Book 



THE 



HANDWRITING OF GOD 



IN 



EGYPT, SINAI, 



AND THE 



HOLY LAND: 



THE 



RECORDS OP A JOURNEY FROM THE GREAT VALLEY OF THE WEST 
TO THE SACRED PLACES OF THE EAST. 



BY REY. D; EAKDALL. 



WITH 

MAPS, DIAGEAMS, AND NUMEEOUS ILLUSTEATIONS. 



Mnit>cr0e is tlje ^anJJttJritinfl of Cl^ob, anii alt objects are ujorba in it." 




COLUMBTJS, OHIO: 
RA^-DALL AI^^-D ASTdS-. 
SHELDOISr & CO., NEW YOEK. 
1862. 



Entered accoeding to act of Congress, in the year 1862. 

By D. a. RANDALL, 

In the Clerk's Opfige of the District Court of the United States 
FOR THE Southern District of Ohio. 




OSGOOD & PEARCE, 



TO MY CHURCH, 

TO WHOSE STMPATHT, EyCOFKAGEMEXT AND PKATEES, I AM DEEPLY IN'DEBTED ! 

- TO MY SUNDAY-SCHOOL, 

WHOSE KIND KEMEilBRAyCES DrPJXG MY JOUENEY. A>'D WELCOME GREETINGS OX 
MY RETURN. HAVE EEEX LIKE SUKLIGHT UPOX MY HEART : 

TO MY FAMILY, 

FOE THEIR PROMPT A>'D CHEERFUL AID IX MY TRAVELS A>'D LABORS : 

AND TO MY NUMEROUS FRIENDS, 

FOR THEIR ACTS OFKIIs'DXESS AND WORD.? OF CHEER, 

THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, 

WITH THE HOPE THAT THEY MA.Y ALL EXJOY AS MUCH IX THE EEADIXG. 
AS THE AUTHOR HAS Ds COLLECTING AND PREPARING 
THE CONTENTS OF IT. 



\ 



lE^TEODUCTIOJ^. 



Why another book of travels and observations in the East ? 
Flas not the ground been traveled over, again and again, and 
book after book been written ? What new, interesting, or in- 
structive, can be presented ? 

The writer is aware that many questions of this kind will 
arise, on reading the title-page of this book. He apprehends 
many will think the effort an unnecessary or superfluous one ; 
still, he has resolved to give the public the book. 

1. Because books, in the present condition of society, have 
become an essential requisite for the dissemination of knowl- 
edge, the promotion of morality and religion, or the increase 
of the pleasures and enjoyments of the public. If the labor 
thus demanded is one of duty, the author should not shrink 
from bearing his share ; if one of profit or pleasure, he has as 
good a claim to the privilege of writing and publishing as any 
other one. 

2. The countries of which this book treats are those of in- 
tense interest to all classes of persons. Here are the records 
and monuments of the early ages of the world. Here are his- 
toric pages of which none should be ignorant. From these, 
new lessons are continually being unfolded. Here God has left 
the traces of his footsteps, the handwriting of his power, and 
the memorials of his mighty wonders. 

3. A book of travels, if written with taste and skill, will 
always be an interesting and instructive book. Each succeed- 
ing person, in his visit, will view things and scenes in new 
aspects; catch the inspiration of new thoughts and lessons; 
and bring truth to at least some minds, arrayed in new and in- 
viting drapery. 

4. Many of the books on the East are too learned for 



INTKODUCTION. 



popular use ; abounding in Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic tech- 
nicalities, and devoted to the discussion of disputed questions, 
they may be of great importance and highly useful to the scholar, 
but they do not interest the great mass of common readers. 
Others, again, pass so rapidly from place to place, and are so 
general in their descriptions, the reader gets but very imperfect 
ideas of scenes and localities. These extremes the writer of 
this work has designed to avoid. It has been his object to 
select the most prominent and important things, and to describe 
them in a plain and familiar style, with definiteness and par- 
ticularity, and to condense into the work what he supposes the 
common reader would most desire to know. He has not in- 
dulged in learned dissertations, or critical discussions ; has not 
endeavored to settle controverted questions, dates, and locali- 
ties; indeed, it has not been his intention to make a book for 
the learned or the critical, but to give the public a volume to 
interest and instruct the family and the common reader. 

5. Thousands of persons have not read the books that have 
already been published ; not because they have no desire to 
read, but because they have not been brought within their 
reach. Many of these works have had a wide circulation, and 
have done great good, and yet multitudes have not been reach- 
ed by them. The present volume, from circumstances of au- 
thorship, publication, and the personal relations of the writer, 
may reach and influence many that other works have not reach- 
ed, and thus add something to the general amount of good 
accomplished. . 

6. This book is designed to be different, in several particulars, 
from others that have preceded it. If it were not, the author 
might ^spare himself the labor of writing and the expense of 
publishing. It is designed not only to present the interesting 
and exciting incidents of travel, but to connect with the scenes 
and places visited the most prominent and instructive historic 
events that have characterized them ; drawing from them illus- 
trations of scripture, events of history, sketches of biography, 
and, more especially, the important moral lessons they are cal- 
culated to suggest, and such as it is hoped will benefit the heart 
and the life. 



INTKODUCTION. vii 

7. Because there is yet much to be learned, and deep im- 
pressions to be made, from the new revelations that are con- 
tinually coming to us from these ancient and sacred localities. 
God has kept two copies of his historic records of our race. 
One was written on parchment and put into the hands of man. 
It has been watched over with jealous care, strangely preserved, 
and handed down from generation to generation. The other 
was written on monumental records, the sculptured tablets of 
now extinct nations, and buried beneath the crumbling piles 
and moss-grown mounds of ruined cities. The wasting ravages 
of war have rolled over it ; the foot of the ruthless barbarian 
has trampled it ; the elements in their fury have combined for 
its destruction. And yet, during the long lapse of ages, his 
omniscient eye has watched over it, and his almighty hand has 
guarded it ; and lo ! in his own appointed time he lifts the vail, 
and page after page comes up from the disentombed cities of 
antiquity — from Babylon, and I^ineveh, and Egypt, and Syria 
— and the two books lay their testimony side by side, and both 
conspire to establish the testimony of God. 

I^^one can be too familiar with these things. The present 
aspects of the countries through which this book will lead the 
reader, the present condition of the people, the majestic ruins, 
the time-worn monuments, entombed cities and temples, will 
all speak with an instructive and impressive voice. They will 
talk to us of things grave and serious in antiquity ; they will 
teach us important and interesting lessons in religious faith ; 
they will give us visions of things majestic and glorious in 
promise. Some of these lessons it is the design of this book 
to record for the benefit of the reader. 

These reasons the writer deems a sufficient apology for giving 
a new book to the public. In preparing it, he has had before 
him the works of a large number of authors who have pre- 
ceded him in a similar labor. From these he has been enabled 
to gather many facts and hints, that have materially aided him 
in improving and enriching the work. He has not deemed it 
necessary to burden the pages by continued reference to the 
works thus consulted. In using them, he finds, in collating 
different authors, he has only done what others have done be- 



viii 



INTRODUCTION. 



fore him. To one only would he in particular acknowledge 
his indebtedness — Murray's Guide Books. His Handbooks of 
Egypt, Syria, and Palestine, were his constant companions in 
his travels, and have been used by him in the preparation of 
his notes for publication ; and he has often been surprised at 
the fullness, particularity, and accuracy of the information they 
contain. I^^'o visitor in those lands should be without them. 

The illustrations found in the work have been selected be- 
cause they are illustrations. A number of them have been pre- 
pared expressly for the work, and all of them contain accurate 
views of the places they are designed to represent, as the au- 
thor can testify from personal observation. They have been 
inserted, not merely as embellishments to adorn the work, but 
as helps, to enable the reader to obtain correct ideas of import- 
ant localities. "Wliere maps and diagrams were necessary to 
illustrate the text, they have been prepared. These things have 
added materially to the expense of the work, but will be of 
great value to the reader. 

For the convenience of those who wish to have the work 
bound in two volumes, it has been divided into two parts — one 
on Egypt and Sinai, the other on the Holy Land ; and the pag- 
ing and indexing have been made to correspond to this arrange- 
ment. 

And now the journey has been completed, the laborious task 
of writing ended, and the work is placed in your hands. The 
author, in his travels and in his labors, has not been unmindful 
of his dependance on Him whose favor alone can give success. 
May His blessing attend the work, and may it prove a source of 
interest, instruction, and moral improvement, wherever it goes. 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



" Egypt shall be a desolation, 
And Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, 
For the violence against the children of Judah, 
Because they have shed innocent blood in their land." 

Joel, iii. 19. 

"O, all-preparing Providence divine! 
In thy large book what secrets are enrolled ? 
What sundry helps doth thy great power assign, 
To prop the course which thou intend' st to hold ! " 

Drayton. 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



CHAPTER I. 

Columbus to Boston — Voyage Across the Atlantic. 

On the third of January, 1861, I left the depot at Columbus, 
Ohio, for a tour in Bible lands. Eefreshed by a night's rest 
among my friends in Cleveland, at ten o'clock the next morn- 
ing I was again upon the cars, whirling onward toward Buffalo. 
A slight fall of snow during the night had carpeted the earth, 
and festooned the forests, and clothed the hills in a beautiful 
drapery of white. Upon one side, as we passed, was first the 
high bluff bank crowned by the city, then the level open coun- 
try, dotted over with neat farm-houses, while occasionally a 
thriving village nestled among its forest of shade trees, and 
lifted its lofty church spires toward heaven. Upon the other 
hand was the broad expanse of the Erie. The shore was 
bounded by a heavy lock of ice, reaching a mile or more from 
the land ; beyond that a blue line of water, then another girdle 
of ice ; while beyond all, the white-capped waves and the fleecy 
clouds, wearing the peculiar blue and hazy cast of winter, 
seemed to meet and blend in cold and solemn grandeur. The 
morning was frosty but bright, invigorating, and beautiful, 
though all nature was girt with the sullen aspect of winter. 
The swift- winged cars go thundering on. I sit a stranger in 
the midst of strangers, buried in the solitude of my own reflec- 
tions. I had left my home for a long absence and a tedious 
journey. The perils of the ocean, the hardships and privations 
of desert routes, dangers from hostile tribes, and exposure in 
uncongenial climes, like frightful spectres, were staring me in 
the face. I had just exchanged the parting tokens of affection 
with my family and the friends that I loved — my church and 



12 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



kindred in Christ — who not only had a strong hold upon my 
alfections, but who, in the tokens of regard and kindness shown 
me in view of my departure, had added indissoluble ties to the 
bonds that united me to them. 

My thoughts wandered back to the home and kindred I had 
left, and then dashed forward into the future Brighter hopes 
and more pleasant visions are luring me onward. Is it possible 
I am so near realizing the cherished anticipations of many 
years ? Am I really to visit the land of patriarchs, prophets, 
and apostles — to revel in thought amid the scenes of Bible 
history ? Am I to see Egypt, and gaze upon the home of the 
ancient Pharaohs — walk over the land watered by the sweat 
and tears of captive Israel ? Am I to visit the Holy Land — press 
with my feet the soil where Jesus walked, labored, wept, and 
died? The thought of these things urge me onward. The 
past may be saddened by the thought of parting scenes, but it 
is perfumed with the remembrance of fraternal and Christian 
love. The future may have its doubts and clouds, and anxious 
fears may hang them with a sombre drapery, but they are illu- 
mined with the radiant bow of hope. 

Another thought oppresses my mind, and gloomy forebodings 
rise up around me. It is 

THE CONDITION OF MY COUNTRY. 

Political differences and sectional jealousies have long been 
working like leaven in all parts of the land. ]S"ow the fires ot 
contention, long smothered, seem about to break out in one 
wild blaze of excitement. The first blow has been struck for 
the dissolution of this sacred Union, formed in the wisdom and 
cemented by the blood of our forefathers. 

Jack Prost (he deserves a more dignified name), with his 
cold pencil, and a skill no human hand could imitate, had si- 
lently traced upon the car window by my side a beautiful min- 
iature forest — a magical silvery brake of fern, bush, and tree. 
I was absorbed in admiration of this delicate creation, and 
thinking how easily its frail netting of ice-work could be dis- 
solved by a single breath. Again my thoughts reverted to the 
former theme. What reports will I hear from my country 



EEFLECTIONS BY THE WAY. 



13 



while I am gone ? In what condition will I find it on my re- 
turn ? Will brother rise against brother, and state be arrayed 
against state, and the clangor of arms be heard where the voice 
of peace and the hum of industry has so long been our music? 
Will the stern tramp of war, and the warm blood of the slain, 
desolate and stain those fields that have so long yielded us the 
rich abundance of their harvests ? Is this boasted Union, after 
all, a mere net-work of fancied strength, frail as the picture 
the morning frost has sketched upon that glass, that a single 
breath may dissipate ? 'No, no ! it cannot be. This Union 
must remain entire. I love the stars and the stripes. I am 
proud of the flag of my country. I shall find it in every port 
I visit. I had rather stand under that, than under the banner 
of any other nation. It is an segis of protection ; and the plea, 
"I am an American citizen," is equal to that urged by the 
Apostle Paul, near two thousand years ago, " I am a Eoman, 
and free-born.'' 

But I cannot record all my reflections as the ponderous loco- 
motive went thundering on, with its head of fire and its comet- 
like train of steam and smoke. Buffalo was passed — Albany 
left behind — Boston was in sight — we are there. 

How great the facilities for travel ! A ride of thirty-five 
hours, at an expense of twenty dollars, and here I am by a 
■ cheerful fire, in a comfortable hotel, eight hundred and sixteen 
miles from home. 

It is the ninth of January, 1861. I am now standing upon 
the deck of the steamer Canada, as she lies at anchor at East 
Boston wharf. We are just about to launch out upon the cheer- 
less waters of the great deep, in one of the most tempestuous 
months of the year. Almost involuntarily the question again 
arises. Why do I go ? Have I sufficient reasons for undertak- 
ing such a journey? Can I expect, in a brief residence among 
the ruins and monuments of antiquity, to make any new dis- 
coveries, or add any thing to the vast fund of knowledge that 
has been gathered from these sources ? Can I expect to throw 
any new light on scripture history and revelation ? Has not 
ChampoUion, Wilkinson, and their compeers, done all that is 
needed in Egypt ? Have not Layard and his associates sufli- 



14 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



ciently opened the long-buried ruins of Mneveli? Have not 
such men as Eobinson, Stevenson, and Stanley, finished the 
work in Sinai and Palestine ? Why, then, do I go ? 

When, some years since, Lamartine went out on a similar 
expedition, he tells us he went as a philosopher and a poet. 
Others have gone as men of literature and science. I go simply 
as a Christian. As such, I wish to visit the places dear to 
every Christian heart ; to stand among the monuments where 
the ancient people of God toiled ; where Moses wrought his 
mighty miracles ; to look upon those renowned waters that 
stood on heaps to make an open passage for the escape of the 
captive race; to stand upon the summit of that mount that 
trembled beneath the awful majesty of a descending God. I 
want to visit the sacred waters of the Jordan ; to look upon 
that mysterious sea that rolls its dark and leaden waves, an 
everlasting monument of the displeasure of God against the 
doomed cities of the plain ; to visit Jerusalem, Gethsemane, 
and Olivet. I want to stand in Bethlehem, where Jesus was 
born — upon Calvary, where he died ; to weep at the sepulchre 
where they laid him ; to stand upon the mount from which he 
ascended to heaven. In -all these places I want to take lessons 
of Him who teaches as never man taught ; to mark the foot- 
steps of the Almighty, and trace the records of his wonder- 
dealing hand. I go, trusting in Israel's God — he will be my 
protector. 

My refiections were broken by the loud, sharp cry of an 
officer of the ship — 

"ALL aboard!" 

Ten o'clock was the time set for our departure. I was pleased 
to find among the passengers " Father Kemp " and his company 
of " Old Folks," going out to give a series of concerts in Eu- 
rope. There are about thirty of them, mostly young people, 
notwithstanding their assumed name. "We anticipate the charm 
of their songs will add much to the pleasure of the voyage. 

An ocean ship was to me a novel place, and I had many 
things to learn. " What is that little flag at the mast-head ? " 
said I to a man standing near me. " That they call a Blue 



LIFE ON THE OCEAN 



15 



Peter ; it indicates that the ship is to sail immediately." " And 
what is that flag at the stern ? " " Why, that is the Union Jack, 
the pride and boast of every British seaman." Forward, look- 
ing through their respective port-holes, were two dark-looking 
Bellona boys, ready primed, to act their part in the farewell 
scene. Father Kemp assembled his company of Old Folks on 
the promenade deck, and, in company with their friends, sang 
" Anld Lang Syne." The last warning was given ; friends has- 
tily exchanged the farewell tokens of affection. I saw many 
struggling to keep the tear-drop back ; while others gave way 
to emotions they could not suppress. I stood alone. 'Eo one 
knew me, or cared particularly for me ; but I was not an unin- 
terested spectator. I dropped a few tears, from sympathy with 
the rest ; for recent experiences had made me keenly suscep- 
tible to the emotions that swayed them. 

GETTING OUT OF THE HARBOR. 

All was in readiness. At five minutes past ten o'clock, the 
ponderous machinery was put in motion — the huge paddle- 
wheels lazily obeyed the mandate — the war-dogs howled a 
parting salute, and their deep-mouthed notes rolled back over 
city and bay, till old Bunker Hill and Charlestown seemed 
roused from their dreamy sleep of peace, and echoed back the 
notes as a familiar sound of olden days. The Blue Peter came 
down, and the stars and stripes went up, and we moved slowly 
out among the shipping of the harbor. It was a clear, beauti- 
ful morning, and the waters lay like an immense mirror in the 
sunlight. We passed the forts, standing like huge sentinels to 
guard the passage to the city. At the entrance of the harbor 
we dropped our pilot, who was taken on board a schooner an- 
chored there to receive him. Onward we went : shore and city 
faded away, and disappeared in the distance. I looked out on 
the wide expanse of waters ; the sea and sky were all the world 
to us. We were now 

FAIRLY AT SEA. 

Both flags were taken in, and things put in readiness for 
rougher ocean life. For a time we moved on pleasantly. To- 



16 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



wards evening a head wind sprung up, producing that rocking 
motion of the boat that makes sea hfe so much of a dread to 
those unaccustomed to the water. Dinners, with many, were 
disposed of in quicker time than the digestive organs are accus- 
tomed to work. But things this evening did not arrive at any 
very serious pass. The worst was yet to come. 

Thursday. Our head wind changed to a side wind, and we 
had what the sailors call a chopped sea, producing a very un- 
pleasant motion of the boat. Berths and wash-bowls were in 
greater demand than edibles. Only eight made their appearance 
at the breakfast table. I felt myself, during the day, approaching 
a crisis of some kind, but was determined to procrastinate it as 
long as possible. I kept on deck in the open air, and resolutely 
frowned down all signs of rebellion. During the afternoon 
there were manifest indications that the crisis was at hand, and 
must be met. Supplied with a mug of warm saleratus water 
and a wash-bowl, I ''turned in," as the sailors say, and the 
contest commenced. For a time there seemed to be a general 
revolt and combination among all the internal states, from the 
boots upward, to secede. The contest was a serious one, and 
for a long time it seemed doubtful how it would end ; but at 
last, from mere exhaustion, hostilities ceased, and quiet was 
restored. I now determined to keep a strict watch over the 
subdued provinces, and by withholding supplies, and great 
caution in the distribution of limited rations, to keep all in 
subjection. From what I heard going on around me, I was 
aware I was not the worst sufferer. With some, the agony of 
the contest was kept up all night long. 

Saturday, 12th. This morning the clouds broke away, the 
sun came out ; we had a fair, brisk wind ; all sail was set, and 
we moved on, under the combined power of wind and steam, at 
from ten to thirteen miles an hour. 

We are now nearing Cape Race, a dangerous and stormy 
part of the coast. Mght is closing in upon us. Dark and 
stormy-looking clouds are hanging about the horizon, forebod- 
ing no favorable night. 

Sunday. Our anticipations of rough weather last night have 
been realized. The captain stood well off from Cape Race, to 



LITE ON THE OCEAN. 



17 



avoid a dangerous reef of rocks lying about one hundred miles 
from shore. The storm -king was abroad during the whole 
night. We were only conscious, as we lay in our berths, that 
there was a great commotion of the elements. The ship labor- 
ed heavily through the waves, and rolled from side to side, and 
occasionally a heavy wave broke over the deck. The captain, 
faithful to his trust, was on deck all night, and did not leave to 
take any rest till after seven in the morning. At this time the 
danger was considered over, as the wind had partially subsided, 
and we were about three hours past the Cape. But the conse- 
quences were not over to the passengers. Most of those who 
had recovered from their sea-sickness were overtaken with a 
relapse, and a number who had not before been affected were 
seriously ill. 

The rules of the company make it the duty of the captain to 
read, or have read, the Church of England service on Sunday. 
In consequence of the severe labors of the night, this service, 
usually performed at half-past ten, was postponed till evening, 
when such as were able assembled in the after- cabin for that 
purpose. 

Wednesday, Ihth. Monday and Tuesday we had a constant 
succession of foul weather — tempestuous winds and a boisterous 
sea. The concert the Old Folks were to give on Tuesday eve- 
ning was deferred on account of the motion of the ship, and 
the sickness of most of the company. Have had a head wind 
all day, and have depended on the power of steam alone. The 
wind has been increasing during the afternoon. I observe to- 
night the sky has an angry appearance. The sailors are all 
busily at work, securing every sail, and making all ready for a 
storm. 

A GALE AT SEA. 

Thursday. Our officers were not disappointed in their last 
evening's expectations of a gale. Before morning we had it in 
earnest. We novices in sea life thought we had a severe storm 
on Saturday night off Cape Eace, but the sailors only laughed 
at us Avhen we spoke of it. In our berths below we only knew 
that the wind was blowing a gale, that our boat was pitching 

2 



18 



EGYPT AND SIJ^AI. 



and tossing about, and we could hear the waves breaking in 
torrents clear over the top of the cabin above us. 

About four o'clock in the morning, a heavy sea struck the 
larboard side of our ship. The concussion seemed like striking 
against a rock. Some were thrown clear out of their berths; 
crockery smashed and rattled ; boxes and trunks were dashed 
with violence across the state-rooms ; women screamed, and 
men jumped from their beds in affright. 

For a few moments the ship stood perfectly still, as if stiff- 
ened like a bullock struck in the head with an ax; then the 
heavy timbers screaked and quivered, and in a few moments 
more she was dashing headlong onward through the mountain 
waves. I had an upper berth, and from that time till morn- 
ing I found it difficult to keep my position. I braced myself 
with my knees, and held on with my hands ; rolled backward 
and forward, and thus waited for the morning light. I will 
say, however, that during all this I felt no fear ; not that I had 
stronger nerves than the rest, but I knew we were now in mid 
ocean, near a thousand miles from land, that we had plenty of 
sea room, and that our ship was so strongly built, she had no- 
thing to fear from wind or wave. 

THE OCEAN IN A STORM. 

As soon as the morning light appeared, I managed to dress 
myself, though with extreme difficulty, both from dizziness and 
the motion of the boat. I was determined to get on deck, enjoy 
the fresh air, and see how old ocean looked, lashed into tempest. 
I at last succeeded in reaching the promenade deck, and took 
shelter under the lee side of the great smoke-stack, which not 
only protected me from the spray, but also kept me warm ; for 
it threw off heat like a monster stove. The scene to me was a 
novel one ; and, notwithstanding my sickness and exposure, I 
stood for more than two hours enjoying the strange grandeur 
and majesty of the scene. Our great ship was pitching up and 
down, tossed like a feather in the wind. We rode on huge 
mountain billows of dark leaden color, capped with molten 
glass, and tipped with silvery caps of foam. Once or twice the 
sun broke through the angry clouds, and touched them with 



LIFE ON THE OCEAN. 



19 



his golden light, kindling the pearly drops into myriads of 
sparkling diamonds, and throwing over all the prismatic beauty 
of the rainbow. I thought I had seen water in its greatest 
majesty and glory, and in its most impressive exhibitions, at 
]!^iagara ; but here was a vastness — a grandeur — an exhibition 
of sublimity and power, that eclipsed all I had ever seen before. 
My soul was deeply impressed with the omnipotence and in- 
finity of that God who scooped out this mighty abyss, and filled 
it with these powerful waters. He hath set them their bounds, 
and says to them, in their wildest commotion, Thus far, and 
here shall thy proud waves be stayed." I heard in the roar of 
these elements the voice of the Lord God Omnipotent, and re- 
joiced that, terrible as he was, I could call him Father. 

The incidents of an ocean voyage have been so often penned, 
we need not detain the reader by any lengthy narration of 
them. Through wind and storm, sunshine and calm, with won- 
drous power the ponderous machinery of our ship drove us 
onward. Again we came in sight of land. It was a pleasant 
and cheerful sight. Cape Clear was passed. Cork harbor was 
gained. Monday, January 21st, we were steaming along the 
Irish Channel, enjoying a calm sea and a bright sunshine. At 
six p. M., after an unusually stormy passage, we dropped an- 
chor in the Mersey, opposite Liverpool, the great shipping 
emporium of the world. The landing and getting through the 
custom-house will form a portion of the next chapter. 



20 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



CHAPTER II. 

Landing at Liverpool — Eide to London. 

The close of the last chapter found ns ancliored in the Mer- 
sey, after a run from Boston to Liverpool, of a little more than 
three thousand miles, in twelve days and eight hours. 

GETTING THROUGH THE CUSTOM-HOUSE 

Was not as formidable a task as I had supposed. The mails 
were first taken on shore. After an impatient waiting of near- 
ly an hour, the tardy custom-house officer made his appearance, 
accompanied by a man with a plate of paste and a handful of 
labels. The search was far less rigid than I had anticipated. 

It came my turn. Your name, sir ? " This was hastily writ- 
ten in a book he carried in his hand. How many packages, 
sir ? " " Two, sir." I had two traveling bags. " Got any to- 
bacco or ardent spirits?" "JSTo, sir; don't deal in such com- 
modities. You can see what I have, sir." Taking out my 
keys, I was about to open my bags. Without waiting for this, 
he took hold of each, gave it a nervous pressure between his 
hands ; and,, as if comprehending, by intuition, the character 
of the contents — ''All right, sir; let them pass." The paste- 
man clapped a label on them, by virtue of which they went 
through the gangway, and I followed after. 

The search was most rigid after tobacco, ardent spirits, and 
— if the traveler had books — for American reprints of English 
works. The former pay heavy duties ; and the latter is con- 
sidered a kind of literary piracy, that meets with no favor. If 
such books are found, they are committed to the flames without 
the least compunction on the part of the officers, or of compas- 
sion to the owner. 

A few minutes more, and I was enjoying the comforts of an 
excellent hotel, named Victoria, in honor, I suppose, of her 



A RIDE IN ENGLAND. 



21 



Royal Highness. I found the accommodations excellent, at an 
expense of about eight shillings sterling (or two dollars) per day. 

Liverpool is noted, principally, for its shipping accommoda- 
tions and fine docks. Of these, it has now seven miles in 
length, all walled in, and protected by massive gates, like the 
locks of a canal. This renders the shipping very secure. The 
city is a place of great business, but it has few attractions for 
the visitor. The only building of special note is St. George's 
Hall. It is said to be the finest public hall in the kingdom. 

LIVERPOOL TO LONDON. 

January 25^A. I left the depot at Liverpool at nine o'clock 
A. M., on the G-reat I^^orth western Railway, for London. I am 
now taking my first views of England and English scenery. 
To an American, the absence of timber, and the high state of 
cultivation bestowed upon the soil, are striking features of the 
landscape. The houses all look old. They lack the architec- 
tural lightness and beauty, and the neatness of appearance, 
that characterize the farm-houses of our own land. All the 
main roads are macadamized. Land is more valuable than 
with us, and far less is appropriated to highways. Many of 
them are very narrow. All railroad crossings go either over 
or under, thus securing safety to passing trains. Every thing 
bears the stamp of age. Evergreens are seen in abundance; 
while the ivy, finding a congenial home among the moldering 
ruins of age, is seen climbing every where — shrouding, w^ith its 
beautiful festoons of living green, the decay and ruin of death. 
Il^'umerous villages dot the country. Multitudes of great black 
smoke-stacks, amid slender steeples and heavy church-towers, 
side by side, rise in majesty towards the heavens. Thus the 
indications of religion and industry are generally found in close 
proximity. "With the smoke of the furnace goes up the in- 
cense of worship ; with the hum of machinery is mingled the 
anthem of praise. England looks like a finished country. Has 
it reached the zenith of its power and prosperity ? How long 
will it retain its present high position ? 



22 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



A ride of one hundred and seventy-five miles in nine hours, 
at an expense of seven dollars, and I was 

IN LONDON. 

London ! the great metropolis of England and the mart of 
the world. I was set down at Euston station, and a cabman 
immediately transferred me to a commercial hotel, near the 
post-office, in the very heart of this great Babel — a perfect laby- 
rinth of streets and squares, warehouses and stores, churches 
and palaces — where near three millions of people, of all classes, 
grades, and conditions, find a home: a city that covers sev- 
enty-eight thousand acres of ground — where, every year, they 
consume fourteen million bushels of wheat, eat up two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand bullocks, two million sheep, thirty 
thousand calves, forty thousand pigs, and fish, and game, 
and vegetables in proportion ; a city where, besides all other 
drinks, fifty million gallons of porter and two million gallons 
of ardent spirits are annually poured out in libations to un- 
natural and voracious appetites — where it takes twenty-five 
thousand tailors to make their clothes, thirty thousand shoe- 
makers to take care of their feet, and forty thousand milliners 
and dress-makers to attend to their habits — where an army of 
more than twenty thousand servants are daily employed, and 
the smoke of their coal-fires darkens the country for more than 
thirty miles around. 

The immediate design of coming to London now, was to 
make the necessary 

ARRANGEMENTS FOR MY JOURNEY. 

Before leaving home, I had, of course, procured from Wash- 
ington a passport for foreign travel. This ran as follows : 

United States of America : To all to whom these presents shall 
come — Greeting : I, the undersigned, Secretary of the United States 
of America, hereby request all whom it may concern, to permit safely 
and freely to pass the Rev. D. A. Randall, a citizen of the United States; 
and in case of need, to give him all lawful aid and protection. [Then 
follows a description of the bearer's person.] 

Given under my hand and the impression of the seal of the Depart- 
ment of State at the city of Washington, the 14th day of December, 
A. D. 1860, in the 85th year of the Independence of the United States. 



PASSPOKT AND FINANCES. 



23 



This was duly sealed with the American Arms, and signed, 
Lewis Cass. 

In going into England, no passport is needed ; but other Eu- 
ropean countries cannot be entered without one. Between 
Erance and England the passport system has recently been 
abolished for citizens of the two countries, but not for others. 
I decided to take the route to Paris, Marseilles, and thence to 
Alexandria, in preference to a long sea voyage from Southamp- 
ton, through the straits of Gibraltar ; the former being quicker 
and easier. Having decided to enter France, the first thing 
was to have my passport properly recognized — or, as it is called, 
vised; that is, a certificate upon it, that it has been examined 
by the proper authorities, and that the person who bears it is 
permitted to proceed on his journey. The first was a visit to 
the American consul, who gave it his official recognition and 
Seal. Services gratuitous. This prepared the way for a visit 
to the Erench consul, whose indorsement made it good for 
Erance. Eee one dollar. Your passport must be counter- 
signed in the country you are about to leave by a consul or 
embassador from the country to which you are going. The 
next thing was my 

FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS. 

If money in Solomon's time answered all things, much more 
will it with the modern traveler. He can do nothing without 
it. It is the Aladdin's lamp to bring what he wishes, the talis- 
man to open hearts, and unlock doors. Every step of his way 
must be paid, and every hand lifted for him must be crossed 
with silver. 

Most of the large banking houses of London have agents in 
the principal cities of our States, through whose agency funds 
can be transferred to London without risk or loss, and some- 
times with gain, if exchange happens to be, as is often the case, 
in our favor. A certificate of deposit from Baring Brothers' 
agent in Boston gave me ready admission to their extensive 
business house in London. Erom them I received a "Letter 
of Credit," addressed to the various banking houses in the 
cities through which I expected to go. This letter certified 



24 



EGYPT AXD SIXAI. 



that I had deposited so much money with them, and that my 
draft would be honored to any amount not exceeding that sum. 
On this letter I could draw money in any city I visited. This 
is a great convenience to the traveler, as it entirely obviates 
the necessity and risk of taking a large sum of money with 
him. In one city he can draw just what he needs until he 
gets to the next, and can draw in the currency of the country 
in which he happens to be. Similar arrangements can also be 
made with American bankino: houses. Another method of 
transmitting funds has recently been devised, of great conveni- 
ence to the traveler. What is called circular notes of five or 
ten pounds sterling are issued by several of the banking houses 
of London. These notes form a very safe and convenient kind 
of letter of credit. Arrangements for cashing them are made 
in all the countries of the East, so very simple and efficient as 
almost entirely to exclude the possibility of fraud ; and if they 
are lost or stolen, they are useless to the person finding them, 
and the owner can have them replaced by others. 

Should a person be disposed to carry any amount of specie 
with him, he should take the gold sovereigns of England or the 
Xapoleons of France. In Egypt the sovereigns answer as well. 
In Syria, Turkey, Greece and Italy the French is'apoleon is 
better known and preferred. These arrangements made, we 
are ready to proceed immediately on our journey. We have 
some other general directions to give travelers, but will defer 
them till further experience has increased our stock of knowl- 
edge. We cannot leave here till Monday next, and we may 
improve the time in 

A WALK ABOUT THE CITY. 

I have not the time or space to give the reader even a 
glimpse of the many wonderful things that can be seen in one 
brief walk in this great metropolis. I should like to take him 
to the top of some of the tall monuments that overlook the 
city — to the palaces and the museums; to walk with him 
among the massive fortifications of Old London Tower — 
through the rooms where nobles, princes, kings and queens 
have been incarcerated; to stand with him on Tower Hill, 



ASUNDAYINLONDON. 25 

where the scaffold and the executioner's block tell their dark 
tales of treachery and blood. I should like to go with him to 
Westminster Abbey — a wonderful pile — a venerable old church, 
and the great sepulchral home of England's honored dead. It 
is worth a journey across the Atlantic to take a stroll through 
its cold, damp aisles and chapels; to stand amid its costly 
monuments and moldering dust, where death for many long 
centuries has been gathering his trophies, and his dark gar- 
lands have been interwoven with the adornments of human 
skill and genius. "We have in a very brief space of time treas- 
ured many an interesting fact and story for our readers, but 
we must defer their recital until our return, for we hope to see 
these things again. But we have a Sunday to spend in London 
before we can leave, and we will go and hear some of the cele- 
brated preachers of the place. Among them are several whose 
fame has reach our own side of the water. At 11 o'clock this 
morning 

THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON 

Preaches in Exeter Hall. We will go and hear him. 
Though this is the most capacious room in the city, capable of 
accommodating several thousand people, we must be early or 
we shall not get a seat. See the crowd come pouring into the 
great reservoir. Every seat, from pulpit to the remotest corner, 
from lower floor to highest gallery, is filled, and many are com- 
pelled to remain standing in the aisles. 

The secret of this preacher's popularity is a problem upon 
which many have speculated and a great variety of opinions 
have been advanced. He was invited to London in 1854, and 
was then only twenty years old. He immediately attracted 
public attention, and crowds thronged to hear him — the largest 
audience rooms failed to accommodate the multitudes. When 
he preached in the Crystal Palace more than twenty thousand 
persons were in attendance. 

He arises to commence the service. The attention of the 
vast audience is at once arrested, and a profound silence pre- 
vails. He is a man of medium higlit, thick set, and has a 
very short neck. His face is full, round and smooth, and when 
in repose his lips so drawn apart as to show the two upper 



26 EGYPT AND SINAI. 

front teeth, which have an ivory whiteness. He carries a 
pleasant countenance, and his complexion is very fair and 
ruddy, reminding me of the description given of the youthful 
David when Samuel was sent to anoint him king. One promi- 
nent element of his power is in his voice; orotund, clear and 
full, it possesses great volume, and is mellow and sympathetic. 
Very few preachers have a voice of such power and distinct- 
ness. Yet gifted as he is in this particular by nature, art might 
do for him much more. In modulation, depth, and especially 
in pathos, it might be made much more effective. The enunci- 
ation and number of the first hymn, and the reading of the 
first lines, were distinctly heard to the remotest extremity of 
the great hall. He reads well — even his hymns are read with 
efiect, wdiich can be said of very few preachers. His hymn 
read through, he returned, as is his uniform practice, and re- 
read a verse at a time, directing the singing — a chorister stand- 
ing at his side — now soft, now slow, now with force and ener- 
gy; and when a whole vast congregation joined, it was singing 
such as we seldom hear. But his voice alone would not give 
him popularity. I have known preachers who were far his su- 
periors in this, who failed to attract attention. 

His sermon was not a great one. In systematic arrangement, 
brilliancy and concentration of thought, and power of illustra- 
tion, I have heard many better ones in our own land. But 
there is something about him that attracts, pleases and fixes 
the attention. His language is plain idiomatic Saxon. His 
elocution of the most easy and natural kind, like the converse 
of friend with friend. He stands among his audience as though 
he was one of them. As you look at him you instinctively feel 
that you are in the presence of one who feels for you, can sym- 
pathize with you, and wants to do you good. You feel a confi- 
dence in his power, and are willing to be instructed and led by 
him. Other elements of his popularity are found in his vivaci- 
ty of thought, his dramatic mode of presenting his subjects, the 
variety he manages to introduce into almost every sermon, and 
in the fact that his messages come fresh and earnest from a 
warm and feeling heart. 

Though I say his sermon was not a great one, still, I can say 



A SUNDAY IN PAKIS. 



27 



I was not disappointed. But whatever any individual opinion 
of liim may be, it will not do to deny him the credit of being a 
great, a popular, and a useful man. We must measure men, 
not so much by what they seem to be, or by any detached, or 
single effort, but by the aggregate, and the results of their 
labors. You can no more measure a structure by a few of its 
stones, than you can measure a man by a few of his deeds. 

The man who, commencing in mere boyhood, and yet but a 
youDg man, preaching several years in succession in the same 
place, and in the very metrojDolis of learning and civilization, 
can continue to attract crowds to hear him.; whose extempore 
sermons, as they fall from his lips, are fit for publication, and 
volume after volume, as they come from the press, can be sold 
by thousands, and are read with eagerness and profit on both 
continents; to Avhoni not only the common people but the lof- 
tiest minds listen gladly, and hang with rapture on his glowing 
words ; whose labors have been blessed to the conversion of 
thousands; whose resources as a preacher seem never to be ex- 
hausted or diminished; who from a small nucleus has raised 
up around him a church of more than two thousand members; 
by whose efforts funds have been raised, and a new house of 
worship nearly completed at an expense of $150,000; and 
whose influence is felt in all protestant Christendom, must be 
a gifted and wonderful man, even though critics, in the analysis 
to which they subject him, may be puzzled to discover the con- 
stituent elements of which that greatness is composed. In the 
evening after hearing Mr. Spurgeon I had the privilege of 
hearing the celebrated 

DR. CUM MINGS. 

His books have been extensively read in America, and he is 
reckoned among the most popular preachers of the land. The 
house which would seat ten or twelve hundred was about two- 
thirds filled. Strangers stood in the aisles or about the doors, 
until after the singing of the first hymn, to give pew-holders 
and regular attendants an opportunity to occupy their seats. 
Then they were at liberty to take any unoccupied seats, as it 
was presumed the owners would not be present. The singing, 



28 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



as in most of the dissenting chapels, was congregational, the 
chorister occupying a place in front of the speaker's desk. 
The preacher is a tall, heavy man, rather coarse features, a 
high forehead and well balanced head, w^ith a mild and pleas- 
ant countenance, beaming with kindness and benevolence. In 
several respects he is the antipodes of Spurgeon, while both 
have many excellent qualities. There is nothing stirring or 
enthusiastic in his manner — he is calm, dignified and attrac- 
tive. To a mind gifted by nature he has united a refined taste, 
and the adornments of a finished education. Eich in his con- 
ceptions and lucid in his illustrations — language elegant and 
copious — voice low, soft and musical as the tones of a flute, he 
charms and instructs his audience, and holds them often in 
breathless silence. I do not look upon him as one of the 
greatest, but as one of the most accomplished and useful 
preachers of the age. Seldom have I spent an hour of greater 
interest than I passed in his church, and I shall long remember 
it with pleasure. 



A EAILKOAD RIDE. 



29 



CHAPTEE III. 
London to Paris — Paris to Marseilles. 

We have seen but little of the great city, London, but we 
must hasten our departure — I hope we shall see more of it on 
our return ; so now away to Paris, the metropolis of gayety, 
beauty and fashion. 

There are several different routes from London to Paris. 
The quickest is by the Southeastern Eailway to Folkstone, 
Dover and Calais. On this route the journey is accomplished 
in a little over ten hours, at an expense of about ten dollars. 
The best route for economists, both of time and money, is 
from London t© jSTew Haven by rail, thence across the channel, 
about seventy miles, by steamer to Dieppe, thence by rail to 
Paris — first class fare about seven dollars and a half, second 
five dollars. 

We left London Bridge Station at 20 minutes past 10 o'clock 
in the evening, and at 9 o'clock the next morning were in 

DIEPPE, FRANCE. 

Here we had to pass the custom-house. Our baggage was 
examined, and our passport received the official signature of 
the police, to be produced in any emergency as evidence that 
we were lawfully in the country. "We had a stroll of a couple 
of hours about the town before leaving for Paris. The city is 
an antique looking place, of about sixteen thousand inhabitants. 
It has a fine harbor, commanded by a citadel, and a formidable 
and picturesque old castle. The only thing I saw worthy of 
special note was a venerable old stone church of fine architec- 
ture, massive, moss-grown walls, and ivy-decked towers. At 
11 o'clock we were again on our way. A railroad ride of one 
hundred and twenty-five miles, and our train stopped in a spa- 



30 



EGYPT AI^ D SINAI. 



cious and magnificent depot, the door of onr car was thrown 
open, and the conductor called out 

PARIS. 

I could not pride myself upon any superior knowledge of 
French, and now that I was among Frenchmen, I felt a strong 
reluctance at attempting to speak in tongues. I stood, travel- 
ing-bag in hand, a dozen natives around me. "Any one here 
that can speak English ? " said I. Yat you vants, zur ? " said an 
attractive little Frenchman. Yants ze a hack, zur?" "Yes, 
sir." He politely accompanied me to a stand, asked my desti- 
nation, exchanged a few words with the driver, saw me in, 
bowed politely, and I tossed him a "thank 'e sir" in return. 
On went the driver, I know not how far, through street after 
street, among long rows of buildings, and by many a splendid 
mansion, until at last he reigned in his steed, threw open the 
door and announced 

GRAND HOTEL DE LOUVRE. 

Paris boasts of its splendid hotel accommodations, and of 
these the Louvre ranks among the first. It is said to be the 
largest and most splendid hotel on the continent. This and 
other hotels of Paris are a kind of a mixture of the American 
and English. You pay a fixed price for your room. This is 
proportioned to the distance up — on the second floor, say three 
and a half francs, or about seventy cents a day, and an addi- 
tional frank a day for servant's attendance. The tables have 
fixed rates for every thing you call for — cofiee, and bread and 
butter,^ thirty cents; two boiled eggs, ten cents; beefsteak, for- 
ty cents ; and so on. There is a public table for dinner at 6 
o'clock, to which all that choose may come at a cost of seven 
francs for each person. If you choose to take your meals at 
some other house you can do so, and in that case you pay only 
for your room. 

The uninitiated traveler calculates the expense of his room, 
and adds his table fare, and concludes his expenses are quite 
moderate. Wait a little till your bill is presented. You go to 
your room — no gas, no candles. You ring for a servant. 



HOTEL CHAKGES. ■ 31 

" John, bring me a light." He comes in with two fine sperm 
candles. John, I see there is no soap here; bring in a cake." 
You sit down, your room feels damp and chilly. Another ring 
of the bell: "John, light a little fire for me, it seems cold here." 
The time of settlement comes ; you call for your bill : Eoom 
and service, four and a half francs — all right. Eestaurant — 
all so. Two sperm candles, two francs. Why, you don't charge 
for candles?" "Certainly, candles are always extra." One 
cake of soap, half a franc. "What, charge for soap?" "Yes, 
moDsieur, soap is extra." One basket of wood, two francs. 
"What, wood extra, too?" "Certainly, always, sir." 

Thus the American who has been accustomed at a home 
hotel to pay so much per diem, and have every comfort and 
luxury included, is surprised to find his bill largely increased 
by a long string of extras, though he may not have burned an 
inch of the candles, or washed the gloss from his cake of soap. 
And what is more vexatious, the customs change with almost 
every city, and you are constantly surprised and vexed at the 
ingenuity of your host in bringing in such an endless variety 
of extras. At a hotel in Marseilles where I was eating at the 
public table, not wishing to drink the wines furnished with the 
dinner, I called for a cup of coffee, and was surprised to find in 
my bill, " Dinner, eighty cents ; coffee extra, twenty-five cents ; " 
and when eating in Athens, and calling for a cup of tea, the 
bill involved an extra charge for the tea, another for the milk, 
and another for the sugar, and I wonder they had not made an 
extra charge for the water. But the traveler soon learns how 
to manage these things. In traveling on the continent, carry 
your candles and soap with you. But enough of hotel arrange- 
ments. Let us take a look at this 

BEAUTIFUL CITY — PARIS. 

Paris is all of France, and is justly the pride of the nation. 
It is fifteen English miles in circumference, and contains about 
one million two hundred thousand inhabitants. It is, indeed, 
a city of magnificent buildings, splendid palaces, large and 
costly churches, and beautiful parks and ornamental fountains. 
isTo other city of the continent can compare with it in the ex- 



32 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



tent, ricliness and beauty of its adornments. It is not excelled, 
probably not equaled, by any other city in the world. 

But I am not here to spend time among the attractions of 
the place now; I have only two or three days to make a hasty 
visit to some of them, and complete arrangements for the con- 
tinuance of my journey. I expect to return here on my way 
home, and then, if the limits of our book will permit, I will 
furnish the reader with a notice of some of the prominent and 
attractive localities of the place. 

A SUNDAY IN PARIS, 

I have a Sunday to spend in Paris. TTliere shall I attend 
church? iN"ow I begin to realize that I am in a Catholic coun- 
try. All around me are massive churches, with tolling bells, 
and open doors inviting to worship, but my heart is not in 
sympathy with them. Costly pictures, sculptured statues, 
burning tapers and golden crucifixes, however much they may 
inspire devotion in those educated by them, for me had no at- 
tractions. I turned from them all to the little American chapel 
in Rue de Berry, built in part by contributions from my native 
land. Here I found a neat Grothic structure, capable of accom- 
modating three to four hundred persons. About two hundred 
American and English were in attendance. The Church of 
England service was being read. With a devout heart, and a 
cheerfnl voice, I joined with the worshiping assembly. This 
was immediately followed by a non-liturgical service, with 
preaching by a stranger, whom, on stopping to speak with 
after ser^^ice, I found to be Eev. Dr. McClintock, of the Meth- 
odist Church, ISTew York City. Returning from church, our 
way lies through 

THE CHAMPS ELYSEES, OR ELYSIAN FIELDS. 

It is certainly appropriately named. It is a beautiful and 
extensive park, a continuation of the garden of the Tuileries, 
and facing that splendid palace. On one side of it jiow the 
waters of the Seine. ISTature has scattered over it her beauties 
with a lavish hand, and art has done still more to enrich and 
adorn the place. Here are beautiful groves, shady walks, a pro- 



A BEAUTIFUL PAKE. 



33 



fusion of statuary, gushing fountains, songs of birds and odors 
of beautiful flowers. It was a strange sensation that came 
over me, I cannot describe my emotions, or find words to ex- 
press the reflections that crowded upon me, as I stood upon 
the now lovliest spot in all Paris, 

THE PLACE DE LA CONCORDE^ 

An open space between the garden of the Tuileries and 
these Elysian Fields, and was told that here had been enacted 
some of the bloodiest tragedies that have characterized the 
histor}^ of this fickle and restless people. Just where I now 
stand, just where these costly and elegant fountains, sur- 
rounded by elaborate and gigantic pieces of statuary, are 
making music by the gush of their dashing waters, was erected 
the guillotine of the bloody revolution. Here the head of 
Eobespierre was severed from his body ; here the blood of no- 
bles, kings, and emperors has reddened the earth. Flow on, 
thou gushing waters. Bathe with thy pure and limpid streams 
this memorable spot. Alas ! thou canst never wash away the 
crimson stains. 

Holiday, Feb. 4dh. Interesting as it would be to take you to 
the churches, palaces, gardens, museums and picture galleries 
of Paris, we cannot linger here. We must hasten on to other 
lands, where we can visit, not the magnificence and splendor of 
the present and the living, but the ruins and monuments of the 
past and departed. 

My arrangements are now all completed. An English 
steamer leaves Marseilles on Wednesday morning for Alexan- 
dria, and I must be there. I had to get the vise of the Ameri- 
can consul to my passport, also a vise of a French consul for 
Egypt and Syria, and a clearance from the chief of police. 
These official favors cost one dollar and seventy-five cents. At 
11 o'clock I was at the depot of the Paris and Lyons road, 
ready for a ride of five hundred and forty miles to Marseilles, 
nearly due south. For this ride a first class ticket costs twenty 
dollars ; second class, fifteen dollars ; and if you choose to ride 
still cheaper, third class about ten dollars. 

As we whirled onward I was constantly on the alert to catch 
3 



34 EGYPT AND SINAI. 

every passing view of this, to me, new and strange country. 
On leaving Paris a dense fog linng over the land, and a cold 
night had clothed trees and shrubbery vrith beautiful decora- 
tions of a frosty whiteness. Soon the fog cleared away, and 
the cheerful sun unrobed the landscape of its silver drapery. 
Our course lay for some distance along the valley of the Seine. 
The face of the country was beautiful, but the soil was much 
more shallow and unproductive than I had expected to find it. 
"WTierever the surface of the hills was broken, they presented the 
same white, chalky appearance as is seen at Dieppe and Dover. 
In this 

RIDE THROUGH FRAXCE, 

TVe were rapidly leaving winter behind. The fields gradu- 
ally assumed a green and spring-like aspect. Soon we came 
upon the vineyard plantations. Acres and acres of vines 
clothed the hillsides in every direction. The country is highly 
cultivated. Occasionally a village in the valley by some run- 
ning stream, or upon the hillside, gave life and charm to the 
landsca^DC. At one time we passed through a large tract, cov- 
ered with a stunted growth of timber, looking much like some 
of our dwarf oak openings. One thing that arrests the atten- 
tion of an American, is the small amount of land appropriated 
to public roads, and the small number of carriages or wheeled 
vehicles seen. These are luxuries the farming population can- 
not afibrd. Their land is tilled in the most economical man- 
ner, and every possible retrenchment is made. But little tim- 
ber is seen, and of that little the most is made. If a tree is cut 
down, every chip and piece of bark is saved. Even the mi- 
nutest twigs are gathered up by the children, tied in little pack- 
ages about the size of one's wrist, and sold in the cities for 
lighting fires. This close economy in fuel, soil and produce, to 
one comino- from a land where we annuallv waste enouD:h to 
support an empire, seems like unnecessary carefulness ; but it is 
one of the necessities of a thickly populated country. France, 
like England, looks old — the gray hairs of age are upon it. A 
ride of three hundred and sixteen miles brought us to the city 
of Lyons, the chief manufacturing city of France, with a pop- 



A NIGHT RIDE. 



35 



ulation of about two hundred and seventy-five thousand, at the 
junction of the two great rivers, the Saone and the Rhone. 

Darkness gathered over the scene and hid the view of hill 
and valley and ever varying landscape, and shut us up to the 
solitude of our own reflections. Just as morning opened the 
eastern gates, and poured her floods of light upon the world, 
our eye caught a distant view of 

MARSEILLES, 

And — we were there. This is the ancient Massilla, and is 
now a city of one hundred and eighty-five thousand inhabi- 
tants. Situated on the Gulf of Lyons, it is the chief French port 
of the Mediterranean, and has a safe and spacious harbor, capa- 
ble of accommodating nearly two thousand vessels. The old 
town is hoary with age, dating as far back as six hundred years 
before Christ. The streets are narrow and crooked, running 
up and down steep side hills. The new town is better laid out 
and better built — fine streets, buildings, fountains and squares. 
A beautiful hill adjoining the town is finely ornamented as a 
park, and commands an extensive view of the harbor and sur- 
rounding country. 

I found here good accommodations at the " Grand Hotel Des 
Empereurs," with plenty of extra charges, making a little over 
three dollars a day. My first business was to secure my passage 
on one of the steamers of the Peninsular and Oriental Company 
for Alexandria. This costs one hundred dollars. My passport 
having been vised for Egypt and Syria, I had only to go to the 
chief of police, report myself as wishing to leave the country, 
and pay him two francs for his official permit stamped upon 
my passport. Yery comfortable accommodations can be secured 
on these boats, in second cabin for fifty dollars. The French 
steamers carry for less than the English. A company of three 
persons together on the French steamers can get a reduction of 
twenty per cent, from regular rates ; and, if they choose to take 
second cabin passage, which I afterward tested, and found as 
good as one could desire, it very much reduces the expense of 
the passage. My arrangements are now all completed for m-- 
journey to Egypt. 



36 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



CHAPTER lY. 

Mediterranean Yoyage — Island of Malta — Yarious Inci- 
dents — Arrival at Alexandria. 

Wednesday morning, February 26th, 1861, at 9 o'clock a. m., 
the steamer Yaletta left the port of Marseilles, bound to Alex- 
andria. She was one of the boats of the Peninsular and Ori- 
ental Company, known all through this region as the P. & 0. 
Company. This is a wealthy English company, formed for the 
purpose of transporting passengers and merchandise to the In- 
dies, China and Australia, by the way of Egypt, Suez and the 
Red Sea. They have in constant employ upwards of fifty fine 
steamers, carrying an aggregate of near seventy-five thousand 
tons. They have a regular line from Southampton, England, 
a boat leaving every week, and another from Marseilles, 
France, leaving each week. From Southampton their vessels 
reach Gibraltar, eleven hundred and fifty-one miles, in about 
five da3^s ; here they stop from six to twelve hours, and pro- 
ceeding reach Malta, nine hundred and eighty-one miles 
further, in about nine days. The ordinary stay at this island 
is about six hours, and the whole voyage to Alexandria is com- 
pleted in about thirteen days from Southampton, making a dis- 
tance in all of twenty-nine hundred and fifty-one miles. Pas- 
sengers embarking at Marseilles reach Malta, six hundred and 
fifty miles, in about two and a half days, and Alexandria in 
about four more, making a run from Marseilles to Alexandria 
of fourteen hundred and sixty-nine miles. 

This company's lines of communication extend to Suez, 
Aiden, Ceylon, Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Mauritius, Hong- 
KoDg, Shanghai, and many other parts of the eastern world. 
The rates of passage from Southampton to Alexandria is, for 
first cabin, one hundred and fifty dollars ; second cabin, about 
ninety-five dollars. Unless one wishes to see the straits and 
rock of Gibraltar and other places on the ocean route, it is econ- 



MEDITEEKAN E AN VOYAGE. 



37 



omy of time, money and comfort to go from London or South- 
ampton by railroad to Paris, thence to Marseilles. The letter 
mail from London to the East goes by this route. There are 
eight or ten opportunities every month to go from Marseilles 
to Malta and Alexandria. 

As we passed out of the harbor the sky was clear and pleas- 
ant; the air balmy as summer. Indeed, the glory and beauty 
of spring were upon all the landscape. The Gulf of Lyons, 
over which we had first to pass, is noted for its turbulent winds, 
and we did not wholly escape. Thursday moruing, upon going 
on deck, I found we were just passing the Straits of Bonifacio — 
Sardinia upon the right, Corsica upon the left. 

Friday, Feb. Sth. This morning we had a high wind and 
heavy sea, producing much sea-sickness among the passengers. 
About 9 o'clock we were in sight of Sicily. "We strained our 
eyes as we passed, in the direction of ^tna, anxious to catch 
even a distant view of his majestic form. But though he lifts 
his smoky summit ten thousand feet above the sea, the clouds 
that hung over the island, wrapped him in their ample folds 
and hid him from our view. 

A run of six hundred and fifty miles brought us to Malta, 
and we entered the harbor of Yaletta, after which our steamer 
was named, about 5 o'clock in the morning. Breakfast over, 
we had a couple of hours to spend on shore. 

THE ISLAND OF MALTA, 

So far as it can be seen from the harbor, is a rocky, barren 
looking place ; but the cultivated strips here and there were so 
green and flourishing, and in such contrast with the desolate 
winter of the northern climes I had left behind me, they pre- 
sented a most charming and beautiful appearance. The length 
of the island is about sixteen miles, the breadth about nine. 
Small as it is, its location and the important events that have 
transpired here, have invested it with more interest than often 
attaches to such a limited extent of territory. 

The Maltese are of African origin. They have a swarthy 
skin, nose somewhat flattened, and frizzly hair. They are said 
to be a frugal and industrious people, and good seamen, but 



38 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



generally poor, ignorant and superstitious. The base of their 
language is Arabic, but both the race and their language have 
become much intermixed with foreign elements. 

VALETT A 

Is one of the best harbors in the Mediterranean, and strongly 
fortified. It is shut in by land on every side, and is capable of 
accommodating about five hundred vessels. The town is built 
of stone, and the houses rise tier above tier along the steep hill- 
side that overlooks the harbor. The streets are steep and nar- 
row, many of them stone stairways cut in the solid rock, and 
not unfrequently arched overhead. I was surprised to find the 
city so much of an English town. The English garri(^n here 
has wrought a great change in the manners and language of 
the people. A large share of the inhabitants can talk English, 
English names are on the shop-boards, English faces are seen 
in the stores, English soldiers promenade the streets. The oc- 
cupation of this island by the British and the strong fortifica- 
tions they have erected here, is only another evidence of their 
sagacity and foresight, for this island is the key of the Medi- 
terranean. 

THE HISTORY OF THE PLACE. 

Its importance has made it a scene of contention for thous- 
ands of years. Many difierent nations have looked upon it 
with covetous eyes, and many a bloody battle has been fought 
for its possession. In 1530 it was occupied by the Knights of 
St. John, the Turks having expelled them from Rhodes. Its 
chief city, Yaletta, was founded by the Grand Master of these 
Knights. It soon became noted for its great strength, and the 
richness and magnificence of its buildings. One of the most 
venerable and interesting piles of the place is 

THE OLD CHURCH OP ST. JOHN. 

It has a very ancient look, and was built in honor of the 
patron saint of the Knights. It is two hundred and forty feet 
long and sixty wide. The sides are broken into various chap- 
els, and when I entered it devout worshipers were kneeling 



CURIOUS CUSTOMS. 



39 



here and there, bowing and crossing themselves, while gloomy 
looking monks and nuns, with ghost-like apparel and silent 
tread, were wandering about its immense corridors. 

The most curious part of this church is the floor. Beneath 
it many of the old Knights are entombed, and above them the 
armorial bearings of all the Grand Masters of the order are in- 
laid in mosaics of various and beautifully colored marbles. In 
the chapel of the Madonna was formerly erected a massive and 
curious silver railing. Gladly would the French in their con- 
quest have confiscated this rich treasure, but the wily monks 
covered it with a heavy coat of paint, and soldier after soldier 
passed it, and perhaps leaned upon it, without ever suspecting 
what a treasure was thus escaping their rapacity. The hand 
of time has faded and crumbled the fine fresco paintings of the 
dome of this venerable structure, but the elaborate mosaic work 
of the floor is still the wonder and admiration of every visitor. 
Among the curious things I noticed here was a novel method of 

SELLING MILK. 

The milkman brings his flock of goats to some convenient 
stand ; takes one or two at a time, and leads them from door 
to door, and fills the vessel of each customer with the unadul- 
terated beverage, smoking warm from the generous udder. 
This mode of transportation is a great convenience, for among 
these narrow streets and rocky stairways, no other milk-cart 
could possibly be taken through. In some instances I saw 
these novel milk-carriers ascending to the upper stories of the 
houses, leaving a portion of their useful freight, and descend- 
ing with all the gravity and dignity of one conscious of having 
performed a meritorious deed. Another curious mode of live- 
lihood is followed by a class of persons known as 

THE MALTESE DIVERS. 

One of them came off to our steamer, with a boy to manage 
his boat, while he should be left free to exercise his strange vo- 
cation. His entire dress consisted of a light pair of flannel 
drawers, short at both ends, and a loose woolen shirt drawn on 
over his head. Bringing his little craft alongside, where sev- 



40 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



eral of us were looking over tlie railing, and divesting himself 
of his upper robe, he stood before us in his simple dress of a 
single garment, and commenced in a supplicating tone of 
broken English, Sixpence, me dive for sixpence^ gentlemen, 
get him quick, get him sure, one sixpence, gentlemen." Curi- 
ous to see the operation, I tossed a shilling into the water, about 
fifteen feet from his boat. I knew the water was very deep, 
and supposed he was going to the bottom for it. But his ex- 
perience had taught him an easier mode. He watched it with 
the eye of a hawk as it descended from the railing of the 
steamer, saw it strike the water, and poising himself a moment 
upon the bow of his boat, like a marksman taking aim, head 
first into the sea he went. The water was sufficientlv clear to 
see the whole process. Down he went like an arrow shot from 
a bow, outstripping the money in the race for the bottom. 
Before it had sunk fifteen feet, such were the celerity of his 
movements, he had his hands beneath it, clasped in the form 
of a bowl; the shining piece dropped into the receptacle; he 
clapped it between his teeth, rose to the surface, climbed into 
his boat, and exhibited the prize with the air of a conqueror. 
This was repeated several times, and at every trial, with uner- 
ring certainty, he caught the prize. He then proposed, if any 
one would toss a quarter into the water on the opposite side of 
the steamer, he would dive under the boat and bring it up. 
But no one seemed willing to risk the money, yet I was assured 
by those accustomed to their operations, that he would as cer- 
tainly get it as it was committed to the water. To the biblical 
student, this island is a place of great interest as the scene of 

PAUL'S SHIPWRECK. 

While yet the island was in the hands of barbarians, before 
chivalrous knights had made it a home, or huge fortresses of 
stone had reared their frowning fronts, this great apostle to 
the gentiles, a prisoner for his faithful testimony to the cause 
of Christ, was on his way to Rome to plead his own cause in 
the palace of the Csesars. 

On this voyage that terrible shipwreck recorded in the twen- 
ty-seventh of Acts overtook him. For many days neither sun 



PAUL'S SHIPWRECK 



41 



nor stars appeared. At last, after a terrible night of suffering, 
daylight broke upon the distressed mariners, revealing a little 
creek and harbor. Taking up their anchors, and loosing their 
rudder bands, they hoisted their main sail, and ran their boat 
on shore. They struck the sand where two seas met, and their 
frail craft was dashed to pieces. What an hour of peril was 
that! Yet the prediction of the apostle proved true, for on 
" boards and broken pieces of their ship they all got safe to landy 

They found themselves upon the island of Melita. The place 
of their landing is still shown, about seven miles from Yaletta. 
I regretted that the shortness of our stay prevented my visit- 
ing the place. It was, however, an interesting thought that I 
was passing over the same waters, and was so near the scene 
of one of the most striking events in the life of this illustrious 
apostle. I recalled his interview with the barbarous inhabit- 
ants, the kindness shown him, the fire kindled from a bundle 
of sticks, the venomous viper that leaped out from among 
them and fastened upon Paul's hand, the hasty conclusion of 
the ignorant islanders that he was some bloody criminal, vrho, 
though the gods had allowed him to escape the perils of the 
sea, they still pursued with vindictive justice upon the land. 
They looked for him to swell up with the virulence of the poi- 
son and fall down dead. But when they saw him shake the 
venomous reptile back into the flames, receiving no harm, they 
changed their minds, and said he was a god, and would have 
paid him divine honors. How fickle are the multitude ! 

Publius, the chief man of the island, received him, and 
lodged him three days courteously. As a kind return for his 
hospitality, Paul laid his hands upon his sick father, and re- 
stored him from a dangerous illness. Others came and were 
healed of their diseases, and after having preached to them 
Christ he was sent away, laden with many honors, and with 
such things as were necessary for his comfort in continuing his 
journey to Pome. 

At 9 o'clock we left the harbor ; the island like a little blue 
cloud in the distance faded awa}^, and again the trackless waste 
of waters stretched like a boundless expanse around us. Sun- 
day at half-past 10 o'clock the passengers and crew assembled 



42 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



ill the cabin, and the Church of England service was read, and 
a sermon preached by a clergyman on his way to the Indies. 
Sabbath on the ocean brings but little change ; the rattling ma- 
chinery thunders on, the sails swell with the passing breeze, 
and the boatswain's sharp whistle calls the men to their accus- 
tomed work. 

Tuesday. Have been now three days between Malta and 
Alexandria. We should have been in harbor to-day, but have 
been retarded by head winds. To-night we had one of those 
beautiful sunsets for which the Mediterranean is so renowned, 
i^othing could exceed the majesty and splendor with which 
the king of day sunk into his watery bed, transformed by the 
touch of his own kindling rays into a molten sea of gold. To- 
morrow I shall be in Alexandria, stand upon the soil of old 
Egypt, walk over the ruins of the ancient home of the Ptole- 
mies. "What an animating thought ! 

Wednesday, Feb. 13. Expecting to enter port this morning, I 
was early on deck. We were already in sight of land. On 
the right the long, low line of the African coast was visible, 
scarcely rising above the level of the sea ; not far ahead the 
outline and prominent features of the harbor of Alexandria 
lay before us. My heart beat high with expectation as the eye 
caught its first glimpses of the land of Ham, the Mizraim of 
the Hebrews, the field of wonders, in which so many of the 
mighty miracles of Grod had been wrought. What a luxury it 
will be to wander over those old fields, gaze on those ancient 
monuments, mark the traces of the great hand of God in the 
fulfillment of prophetic declaration ! 

As we neared the shore, one of the first things that caught 
my attention, was the large number of wind-mills standing upon 
the high sand-bank along the coast. They lifted their tall cir- 
cular forms, and stretched out their huge sheeted arms like 
giant spectres keeping sentinel along the coast. Water-power 
cannot be obtained, and fuel is too scarce and expensive to 
make steam, so the winds are pressed into service to turn their 
machinery. The entrance to the harbor is a tortuous and 
difficult one; vessels cannot come in at all by night, nor by day 
without an experienced pilot. 



A MOKAL LESSON. 



45 



The city, that at first looked like a white line upon the low, 
flat coast, began apparently to lift itself upward, and assume 
definite form and shape. The houses stood out more distinct- 
ly; domes, minarets and spires stood up against the sky. We 
were straining our eyes to catch the first glimpses of aught that 
was curious or wonderful. There, just upon that projecting 
point of land we are now passing, where you see an insignifi- 
cant light-house, stood 

i 

THE ANCIENT PHAROS. 

It was one of the Seven Wonders of the World'' — a famous 
and costly tower, bearing upon its top, as it lifted its colossal 
form above the waves, a beacon light to guide the mariner to 
his port. It is said to have been so lofty it could be seen a 
hundred miles at sea. This gigantic tower was a square build- 
ing of white marble, erected by order of Ptolemy Philadelphus, 
three hundred years before Christ. 

A curious story is told of the builder's inscription placed 
upon it: ^'King Ptolemy, to the Savior Gods, for the use 
OF THOSE WHO TRAVEL BY SEA." Sostratus, the bullder, wishing 
to secure the glory to himself, chiseled in the monumental 
stone, ^'Sostratus of Cnidos, the son of Dexiphanes, to the Savior 
Gods, etc/' Over this he placed in hard stucco the inscription 
bearing the name of Ptolemy. In process of time, the stucco 
fell ofi*, and future ages read the name of Sostratus. How 
fickle a thing is fame, and in how many ways men are cheated 
of their worldly honor and glory. 

To me, there was an instructive moral lesson in this, as my 
thoughts, in comparison, glanced to Him, the true Light, light- 
ing every man that comes into the world. How many a moral 
builder would secure a temporary fame by putting himself 
foremost — engraving his own name upon the rock, and hiding 
the honor of Him who alone can rear the enduring fabric! 
But such builders will perish, and their proudest and most 
enduring monuments, like this mighty Pharos, will become a 
mass of buried ruins, while the work of the Great Master 
Builder will forever stand, having a name above every name — 
the glorious moral light-house of the universe. 



46 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



But liere we are safe at our moorings. How strange every 
thing looks. There are the hulks of a number of great old 
ships rotting away and falling, stick after stick, into the water. 
They were once the Viceroy's fleet. The flags of many nations 
float from the masts around us. There is a boat approaching, 
manned by a number of marines in blue jackets. What pen- 
nant is that flying at her bow ? The stars and stripes ! Hail ! 
flag of my country ! The boat is from the United States war 
ship Susquehanna, now lying in harbor. They have sent a 
lieutenant to our steamer for English papers and American 
news. 

Our paddle-wheels were scarcely quiet before we were sur- 
rounded by a shoal of small boats, manned b}^ a strange look- 
ing set of men, of all variety of shades, swarthy, brown and 
black, with turbanned heads and long loose robes, chattering 
away in a strange jargon of sounds, as unintelligible as the 
hieroglyphics of the ancient monuments. Parleying was of no 
use — to make a bargain was out of the question, for I had no 
interpreter. I passed down my traveling bags, followed after 
them, and was transferred to the shore, and landed in a little 
enclosed area that opened into the custom-house. I handed the 
boatman a quarter of a dollar; he clamored loudly and gestic- 
ulated furiously, and declared in broken English he was not 
half paid. I passed on without giving him any reply, for I 
knew he was well paid, and that he would have been just as 
importunate for more if I had given him four times the amount. 
These boatmen are an insolent and rapacious set of fellows, 
and you have to hold them in check with a bold look and a 
firm hand. The next thing was to go through 

THE CUSTOM-HOUSE 

At Marseilles, I was required to give up my passport to the 
officers of the steamer, and was told that I would find it at the 
office of the American consul in Alexandria. With a traveling 
bag in each hand, I came to the door of the custom-house. A 
liveried servant in Turkish costume guarding the door, politely 
bowed me through, and I stood before the receiver of customs. 
He wore a rich Turkish costume, a great turban on his head, a 



GETTING TO A HOTEL. 



47 



gold-hilted sword dangling at his side, and he was evidently 
conscious of the dignity of his official position. He addressed 
me in English: "Your name, sir?" "Eandall, sir." He glanced 
at a list of names in an open book before him : " All right, sir ; 
you can pass." I saw several passports lying upon his desk, 
and understood at a glance how it was. They had been sent 
in from the steamer, and he was already posted as to the num- 
ber and names of the passengers, j^o other questions were 
asked, no examination of my baggage was made. Personal 
baggage, I afterwards learned, is seldom examined at this port. 
I moved on, and as I was bowed in by a liveried door-keeper 
on the sea side, I was bowed out by another on the land side, 
and suddenly found myself in one of the streets of Alexan- 
dria. And now came 

ANOTHER STRUGGLE. 

I had scarcely passed the door, before I was surrounded by a 
regiment of donkey boys, in dirty blue shirts and red tarbooshes. 
They began pulling and snatching at my baggage, and clam- 
oring for the privilege of taking me to a hotel. Luckily, an 
omnibus — a modern European innovation — from the very hotel 
I had selected, stood at the roadside, with open door, and I 
made a sudden and fortunate retreat into it. My disappointed 
pursuers, seeing me beyond their reach, gave up the chase, and 
returned to spend their importunities on some less fortunate 
victim. 

A crack of the driver's whip, and we were whirling through 
the dirty, narrow^ streets of the Turkish quarter of the city. 
As I looked around I said to myself, "How can I stop in such 
a miserable, filthy, suffocating place as this?" But soon we 
emerged into the English part of the town, and a magical 
change came over the scene. A fine open square, ornamented 
with fountains, and w^alled in with great stone-front houses, pre- 
sented a more inviting and home-like appearance. 

THE EUROPEAN HOTEL, 

At which I stopped, was kept by Cyprian Meurat, a French- 
man . The business of the hotel was mostly conducted in French, 



I 



48 EGYPT AND SINAI. I 

thougli one or two of the clerks could talk English. The 
house, like most others of the place, was substantially built of 

stone and brick, but little wood being used. The stairways are { 

all of stone, rough in appearance, while the floors are laid in a j 

coarse lime cement, which gives them a very cheerless appear- I 

ance. The floors and walls are constantly crumbling, scatter- i 

ing, like a great pepper-box, their sand and lime upon clothes | 

and furniture, and affording plenty of hiding places for bugs j 

and fleas. Of the presence of the latter I immediately had j 

positive demonstration. But fleas in Egypt are as common as I 

sunshine in the tropics, and the traveler may as well make up j 

his mind, from the start, to pay the tribute of blood demanded, I 

without protest, and with the resignation of a martyr. Still the ; 
house was quite a comfortable place, more so really than I had 

expected to find. I followed the porter — he deposited my bag- ; 

gage in l^o. 45, and vanished. I shut the door of my room, j 

threw myself into a chair, and was soon absorbed in j 

A TRAIN OF REFLECTIONS. 

] 

And here I am in Egypt ! How often in my far off home I ^ 
have pronounced that name ! What strange things have trans- 
pired around me ! Here was the early home of civilization — 
the birth-place of literature — the cradle of science and arts — the i 
garden and garner of the world ! Here I am in Egypt — the 
land of the Pharaohs, of pyramids, of catacombs, of mummies ^ 
and obelisks — of Israel's bondage and Moses' mighty miracles. ^ 
The land where Heroditus, Strabo and Tacitus came to study 
history — where Plato, Lycurgus and Pythagoras went to school. j 
A laud of the wonderful creations of human power and genius, ■ 
that has long been, and long will continue to be, a place of in- 
terest and curiosity to the learned; aland to which travelers i 
resort from all parts of the civilized world ! | 

"We are now to visit some of its renowned localities. Before ! 

w^e begin, let us recall a few of the leading incidents in its his- j 

tory. ! 

THE EVENTS OF ANTIQUITY. 1 

Egypt is itself a book of history. It is one of God's great ; 
monumental records, on the face of which he has written with 



1 



EGYPTIAN HISTOEY. 



49 



his own hand many of the strange events of the past. It is 
astonishing how he has left his imprint upon her enduring 
monuments. We shall see, as we proceed, how remarkably he 
has perpetuated the record of creation, and the early history of 
the world— how strange have been the instrumentalities em- 
ployed. We shall see it in the lengthened lives of the patri- 
archs, in the dispersion of the race, the journeyings of Abra- 
ham, and the cotemporaneous monuments, that the ravages of 
war and the wreck of time have failed to obliterate. Over all 
we shall see a superintending Providence, beneath all his guid- 
ing hand, around all his protecting presence and almighty power. 

Egypt is supposed to have derived its name from Ham, the 
son of l!^oah, and hence, in the Bible, it is frequently called the 
land of Ham. The Hebrews invariably called it Mizraim, 
from one of the sons of Ham. The Arabs, to this day, call it 
Mizr, a contraction of Mizraim. The Copts call it Khemi, the 
Turks El Kabit. The etymology of the common name, Egypt, 
is involved in much mystery, and for the application of the 
name to this country, various reasons have been assigned. Seyf- 
farth derives the name Copts, now applied to the existing rem- 
nant of the ancient race that once possessed the land, from 
the word Egypt — Gyptus, Gypts, finally perverted into Copts. 
With this allusion to the name, we pass to a brief notice of 

ITS HISTORY. 

The early history of this land was long lost in the mists and 
obscurities of ancient fable and tradition. Mistaking the chro- 
nological inscriptions of its monuments, some had been led to 
assign to it a remoteness of antiquity completely astounding 
to believers in the Mosaic record. But these absurd notions 
of its great antiquity have been corrected. Kecent researches 
among its tombs and ruins, the discovery of the key to its 
hieroglyphics, are all lending their aid to lift the vail that so 
long concealed what multitudes had so earnestly desired to 
know. The strange characters upon the obelisks, the inscrip- 
tions upon their sarcophagi, the papyrus rolls of their charnel 
houses, the hidden chambers of their gigantic pyramids, have 
all been made to speak. The stern reality of truth is rapidly 



50 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



dissipating the absurd fables with which these ancient records 
had been invested. 

THE FIRST GREAT HISTORICAL PERIOD 

Eeached from the creation to the flood — from the beautiful 
garden, and flaming sword and cherubim of Eden, to the dark 
and dismal waste of waters that entombed a world. The bright 
bow of promise spanned the heavens with its radiance, when 
I^oah came forth from the Ark and walked the renovated 
earth. It was the morning of a new day. 

The confusion of tongues interrupted the impious work upon 
the heaven-defying tower of Babel. The new race of men 
commenced their wanderings over the face of the earth. The 
sons of Shem chose the fertile valleys of the east. Japheth 
and his descendants spread themselves over the continent and 
islands of Europe. Ham wandered toward Egypt, and his son 
Cush, with his children, went southward and westward into 
different districts. One of these was the land of Ethiopia, be- 
yond Egypt. Mizraim peopled the laud of the Mle, and was 
the father of the Egyptians. The Mle and the Euphrates, with 
their broad fertile valleys, early became the theatre of import- 
ant events. Egypt and Shinar were the starting points of two 
great streams of history that have flowed on cotemporaneously 
for thousands of years. But who have reigned here, and who 
have been, during a long succession of years, 

THE MASTERS OF THE LAND. 

It has had many masters. This narrow strip of green earth 
has been fattened by the blood of many a hard fought battle. 
According to the best established chronology, the dispersion of 
the nations from Babel, and the origin of dialects, took place 
about 2800 before Christ. Immediately after this, Menes, the 
same as Mizraim, left Babel and went into Egypt. After the 
death of Menes, the country was divided into several rival 
states, whose jealous and war-like rulers, long before Abraham 
left Ur of Chaldea, were contending for the mastery. Busiris 
laid the foundation of mighty Thebes ; Osymandes built many 
magnificent cities ; and Uchoreus, his successor, built Memphis, 



EGYPTIAN HISTORY. 



51 



whicli afterwards became a great city, more than seven leagues 
in circumference, and the capital of the Egyptian Kings. Then 
came Moeris, the artificer of the renowned lake, in which w^as 
treasured the waters of the Mle — one of the most wonderful 
pieces of workmanship in all the land, outvieing, in the esti- 
mation of some, the labyrinth and the pyramids. He was fol- 
lowed by the Shepherd Kings, who conquered and reigned in 
LoAver Egypt. Under their reign, it is supposed, the land was 
honored by a visit from Abraham, the great ancestor of the 
Hebrew nation. 

The Thothmes and Eameses succeeded, under whom Joseph 
was brought here by the Ishmaelites and sold as a piece of mer- 
chandise. These were the Pharaohs that enslaved the Israel- 
ites. Under them Moses was born, and reared and educated in 
their court at Memphis, and the mighty miracles of the deliv- 
erance w^ere wrought. 

After this arose Sesostris, a mighty man of war, whose am- 
bition aimed at the conquest of the w^orld. He enriched him- 
self with the spoils of vanquished nations, was the founder of 
a hundred temples, the builder of embankments and canals. 
He improved, fortified, adorned and enriched his country. But 
the splendor of his success dazzled and blinded him. In his 
wild excesses, the weakness, folly and depravity of human na- 
ture triumphed. He harnessed kings and princes of conquered 
nations to his car, glorying in his grandeur and their humilia- 
tion. After having reigned thirty-three years, blindness came 
upon him, and he died as the fool dieth — by his own hand ! 

THE ETHIOPIAN CONQUEST 

Followed, and they held dominion over the land. Then Cam- 
byses marched over it wath the thundering tramp of war. He 
murdered their king, and plundered Memphis, the chief city. 
He slew their holy bull, Apis, wdth his own sword, and scourged 
their priests wuth rods. Following this was the conquest 
of Alexander the Great, the founder of the city in which we 
have now landed. He adorned it with the trophies of his bril- 
liant conquests, and here, no doubt, expected to spend the 
evening of his life in pleasure and luxury, but his dissipations 



52 



EGYPT AiqD SINAI. 



ended his career in the meridian of his days. Here his body 
was interred, and he became the recipient of divine honors. 
Alexander was succeeded by the prosperous 

REIGN OF THE PTOLEMIES. 

During their administration the land recovered something 
of its former prosperity and splendor. For nearly three 
hundred years it was noted as the seat of wealth, learning and 
power. Such was its strength, it survived the ruins of the As- 
syrian, Babylonian, Persian and Macedonian empires. The 
reign of the Ptolemies ended with 

CLEOPATRA. 

She poisoned her brother, aged fourteen, to secure an undis- 
puted possession of the throne. She reigned twenty-two years. 
At the age of thirty-nine, overcome by Julius Caesar, and deter- 
mined she would not submit to the humiliation of gracing his 
triumphal procession, she resolved to escape by a voluntary 
death. A splendid banquet was prepared by her own order. 
The executioner she had chosen was brought in by a faithful 
servant, concealed in a basket of flowers. At the appointed 
time, she desired her attendants to leave her — took the poison- 
ous asp from its hiding place, and provoked it to inflict the 
deadly wound. She immediately expired, and Egypt became 

A ROMAN PROVINCE. 

The Romans held possession of it from thirty years before 
Christ, till six hundred and forty years after. During this time, 
the religion of Christ was preached among the inhabitants. 
The ancient systems of idolatry gave place to a purer form of 
faith. Alexandria became one of the principal seats of litera- 
ture and theology. Many eminent Christian scholars found a 
home here. Six hundred and forty years after Christ came 

THE INVADING SARACEN. 

Amrou, under the Caliph Omar, took Alexandria by assault, 
and Egypt was subjected to their rule. During this period, it 
was under the rule of several celebrated men. Among them was 



SLAVES BECOME MASTERS. 



53 



the heroic Saladin. They were a brave, daring, reckless race, 
having neither taste for adornments or veneration for the mag- 
nificent structures of antiquity. With ruthless hands they 
burned and plundered, and decay and desolation marked their 
course. But the dynasty of the Caliphs was also to have an 
end. They were overthrown and succeeded by 

THE MAMALUKES. 

These were so called from the Arabic name for slave. They 
were of Caucasian origin — prisoners of war carried into slave- 
ry. Many thousands of these captives were taken into Egypt. 
After a time, a large company of them were formed into a 
corps, and instructed in military arts. But they were not the 
race of men to bear quietly the yoke of servitude. The Egyp- 
tians, desirous of making gain of human servitude, were uncon- 
sciously nursing a powerful enemy at their own firesides. 
These slaves soon manifested a spirit of insubordination and 
rebellion. In 1254 they mutinied against the government, as- 
sassinated the Sultan, Turan Shah, and made one of their own 
number Sultan of Egypt. Their dynasty had no birth-right 
succession, but they usually appointed the bravest of their 
own number leader; and thus, by their craftiness and superiori- 
ty, held control of the government two hundred and sixty-three 
years. Their rule was brought to an end by Selim First. 

He took Cairo by storm in 1517. Selim appointed a Turk- 
ish Pasha over Egypt, but the twenty-four Mamaluke Beys, 
who governed the different provinces, still retained a large por- 
tion of their power. This singular class of persons continued 
to maintain their number by fresh importations of slaves from 
the regions lying between the Black and Caspian seas. Such 
was the political state of Egypt for about two hundred years, 
when it was found the Mamalukes had gained such ascendency 
that the Pasha appointed by the Porte was obliged to conform 
entirely to their wishes. At this period came 

THE CAMPAIGN OF NAPOLEON. 

This wily commander, aware of the importance of the East 
India trade to England, conceived the design of planting him- 



54 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



self between them and their rich eastern possessions. In 1797, 
he landed with an army of thirty thousand men, and with sur- 
prising celerity commenced his operations. At the head of his 
army he marched upon Alexandria, which was taken July 5th, 
and immediately fortified. At the same time Eosetta was 
taken by General Marmont, and July 6th, Bonaparte's whole 
fleet was moored in the roads before Aboukir. Thirty thousand 
men immediately marched in five divisions towards Cairo, the 
capital. J^ear the pyramids of Gizeh, Murad Bey intrenched 
himself with twenty thousand Mamaluke infantry, several 
thousand Mamaluke cavalry, and forty pieces of cannon. But 
the Mamalukes could not stand before the superior discipline 
of the French soldiery, and they fied in wild confusion to the 
contiguous deserts. Three thousand of the enemy were left 
dead upon the field. All their cannon and four hundred 
camels fell into the hands of the French. 

The victorious Bonaparte immediately marched upon Cairo. 
Ibrahim Bey, who was to have defended it, was driven over 
the deserts to Upper Egypt, and E'apoleon was master of the 
land. But English jealousy and interest would not allow him 
to hold undisputed possession. A severe struggle followed, 
and he in turn was displaced. 

Among the subordinates, schooled in these protracted con- 
flicts, was a young Turkish officer. He commenced his career 
as a poor orphan, unlearned and unknown, but his humble 
origin was no bar to his success, is'ature had stamped him 
with the impress of a leader, and he w^as destined to act a con- 
spicuous part in the subsequent history of this blood-stained 
land. This was 

MOHAMMED ALI. 

He was a bold, sagacious, ambitious man. Possessing these 
traits of character, he raised himself from an humble station 
to that of a sovereign, who successfully met and repelled En- 
glish invasion, and dared even to defy his master the Sublime 
Porte. In 1806, he was promoted to the Viceroy of Egypt, 
which he governed upon European principles. He expelled all 
enemies from his country, and subjected neighboring provinces 



MOHAMMED ALL 



55 



to his rule. He established armies and fleets, built fortifica- 
tions, carried on an extensive series of internal improvements, 
established telegraphs, re-opened the canal between Cairo and 
Alexandria. He interested himself in the improvement of ag- 
riculture, established commerce, and promoted manufactures. 
He formed favorable alliances with other nations, protected 
strangers and foreigners, tolerated other religions, encouraged 
learned travelers, and rewarded merit in the arts and sciences. 
The most powerful nations of Europe sought his friendship — 
the Sultan became jealous, and even alarmed at his increasing 
power. Under his rule, Egypt enjoyed rest and prosperity. 
But although he did so much for the improvement of the land, 
he ruled with a rod of iron. As a private man, it is said, he 
was kind, generous and humane ; in his public capacity, he 
never seemed to spare his people. He extorted from them 
money, and imposed upon them many heavy burdens. He 
died in 1849, and his fourth son. Said Pasha, is now Viceroy, 
who continues the liberal plans and improvements of his father. 
Such is a brief synopsis of the history of this land, in the midst 
of which we are now to enjoy a temporary sojourn. 



56 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



CHAPTER Y. 

Preservation of Knowledge — Donkeys and Donkey Boys — 
Sights in Alexandria. 

Here we stand upon one of the world's great battle-fields ! 
Here Pagan, Mohammedan and Christian nations have contend- 
ed for the mastery. These wars have been, first, the executioners 
to destroy, the sextons to bury, and then, in God's appointed 
time, the resurrection power to bring to light, at the time their 
testimony was most needed, the buried records. Had we time 
to look through this eventful and bloody history, to trace 
causes and mark results, we should see the footsteps of Deity, 
and read His handwriting in many of these events. 

AN ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORIAN. 

The old patriarch, Methusalah, was one of the world's great 
historians. Why did the Lord protract his life nearly one thous- 
and years f "When Adam was six hundred and eighty- seven 
years old, Methusalah was born. With Adam he lived and 
conversed two hundred and forty-three years. He was one of 
Adam's pupils, and from him he learned and treasured in the 
store-house of memory the wonderful history of the creation, 
the entrance of sin, the expulsion from Paradise, the defection 
of Cain, and all the other interesting events in the first chap- 
ters of the world's history. 

Methusalah lived to the very year of the flood. One hun- 
dred years before the flood Shem was born. For a whole cen- 
tury he had Methusalah for his teacher, with full leisure to 
learn all the history of the past. Shem survived the flood five 
hundred years, and lived about thirty-five years with Abraham, 
and Abraham was cotemporary with the early monuments of 
Egypt, that are now unfolding their historic treasures. 



PKESERVATION OP HISTOEY. 



57 



Of so much importance do we consider this, we have prepared 
the following diagram, showing how the lives of four persons 
have been linked together, and made to extend over near two 
thousand two hundred years of the world's history, reaching from 
the creation across the flood, down through the life of Abraham 
to the time when God made selection of his chosen people, and 
made them the depositories of the early history of the world, 
by whom the record was most sacredly preserved : 

Creation. 



Flood, 



A. M. 1656. 



A A 
Monuments of Egypt. 



Abraham, 175 years. 



Keep these historic links in mind — Adam, Methusalah, Shem, 
Abraham. Thus Methusalah stood, before the flood, God's 
Great Historic Ledger, reaching one hand back to Adam, re- 
ceiving the record from him, and with the other reaching for- 
ward, and handing it down to Shem. ' Then Shem, living upon 
both sides of the flood, reaches back and takes the record from 
old Methusalah and hands it down to faithful Abraham, who 
teaches it to his children, visited the Egyptians, and was co- 
temporary with their inscribed monuments and written records, 
from which we are now learning chronology and history. As 



58 



EGYPT AKD SINAI. 



we move among the ruins of this ancient land, how time seems 
annihilated, and how closely we seem to be linked to the vener- 
able forms of the earliest ages of the world ! How near we 
get to the fountain-head of history! We here stand by the 
side of monuments under whose shadow Abraham rested. 
Abraham ! who spent his boyhood w^ith Shem, who saw the 
world before the flood, and lived a hundred years with Methu- 
salah, whom Adam dandled upon his knee, and who had seen 
the unsullied beauties of a sinless world ! 

Again, for another illustration of God's overruling Provi- 
dence, look at Bonaparte's campaign in this land. Think of 
his long-continued and bloody struggles, the millions of treas- 
ure squandered, the thousands of lives lost ! What doest thou 
here, Corsican ! and who hath sent thee? A company of 
these French soldiers, in throwing up an intrenchment at Eo- 
setta, lifted from its burial place in the earth a singular looking 
stone. It was black Syenite basalt, covered with strange look- 
ing inscriptions. This was the famous 

ROSETT A STONE. 

The stone found its way to the British museum, where it still 
can be seen. It attracted the attention of scholars, and many 
an hour did they gaze upon its strange, mysterious face. The 
upper lines of the inscription were hieroglyphics. The second 
was a strange character of an unknown kind, the third and 
lower one loas G-reek. 

The Greek was soon deciphered, and was found to contain a 
recognition of the highest honors of the Pharaohs, in the per- 
son of Ptolemy Epiphaues, by the Egyptian priesthood. This 
stone, which dated back nearly two hundred years before Christ, 
furnished a key to the mysterious hieroglyphics, that had so long 
puzzled the scholars of the world. And w^hat results have fol- 
lowed! A long sealed book of history has been opened — mute 
monuments, that have braved the storms for thousands of years, 
have been made to speak — chronology has been incontestably 
settled, the truth of scripture records confirmed ! If that cam- 
paign had done nothing more than this, God in his inscrutable 
wisdom has wrought out by it a result in which all future 



FULFILLxMENT OF PKOPHECY. 



59 



generations will rejoice. This land, too, has borne a conspicu- 
ons part in 

PROPHETIC DECLARATION. 

Most remarkably have these prophecies been fulfilled. Some 
of the judgments denounced fell upon the people in ancient 
times ; the fulfillment of others are clearly seen in the present 
condition of the country. Hundreds of years before the ap- 
pearance of Christ, the pen of inspiration had written her his- 
tory, and the unerring prescience of God pronouncBd her doom. 
" They shall be a base kingdom. It shall be the basest of king- 
doms. ^Teither shall it exalt itself any more among the na- 
tions; for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule 
over the nations. And there shall be no more a prince of the 
laud of Egypt." Ez. xxx. 5, 7, 12, 13. "Behold, I am against 
thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt 
utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto 
the border of Ethiopia. ^ -'^ ''^ And I will make the land 
of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are deso- 
late, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste." Ez. 
xxix. 10, 13. 

And now we are to walk over the soil of this wonderful land, 
wander among its monuments, and meditate upon its ruins. 
■And what shall we see? Every where the marks of ruin and 
desolation — from Syene to the borders of Ethiopia, and along 
the whole course of the Mle, we shall find the fulfillment of 
prophetic record — that God has been against her, and against 
her rivers; that he has made her a base kingdom, and her land 
desolate. Let us walk abroad and commence our view of the 
land. 

THE CITY OF ALEXANDRIA 

Was once an appropriate monument of the genius and enter- 
prise of the great Macedonian concjueror. The desolating 
storms of human passion have swept over it, and sadly has 
it felt their influence. It is said there was an Egyptian city 
here called Rhacotis, long before the son of Philip extended 
his conquests into the land. On the ruins of this, three hun- 



60 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



dred aud thirty-two years before Christy Alexandria was 
founded. The site was wisely selected, and Alexander designed 
it to be the capital of his empire, setting the boundaries of the 
walls with his own hand. 

This city is still a place of great interest to the scholar, the 
historian and the antiquarian. Within it and around it has 
transpired many renowned events. Here was the home of the 
Ptolemies — the seat of learning. Here came scholars from all 
parts of the w^orld, and the Alexandrian age occupies a promi- 
nent place upon historic pages. Here was the great 

WORLD-RENOWNED LIBRARY. 

It was established by Ptolemy Soter, and is said to have con- 
tained seven hundred thousand volumes — four hundred thous- 
and in the library of the Museum, and three hundred thousand 
attached to the temple of Serapis. A copy of every known 
work was reputed to be deposited there. In the storming of 
the city by Julius Ceesar, the shipping in the harbor was set on 
fire — it reached the houses of the city, and spread to the Mu- 
seum. The building was saved, but the great library, which 
had been accumulating for ages, and on which so much labor 
and wealth had been lavished, was lost forever. 

The Romans considered this city next in beauty and import- 
ance to their own capital. When taken by the Arabs, in the 
year of our Lord 640, the Lieutenant Amer, in making his re- 
port to the Caliph, says: "I have taken the great city of the 
West. It is impossible for me to enumerate the variety of its 
richness and beauty. I shall content myself with observing 
that it contains four thousand palaces, four thousand baths, 
four hundred theatres or places of amusement, twelve thousand 
shops for the sale of vegetables, and forty thousand tributary 
Jews." In this city stood 

THE GREAT TEMPLE OF SERAPIS. 

Serapis was one of the Egyptian deities, supposed to be the 
same as Osiris, said also to be the same as Apis. A splendid 
temple had been built for him at Memphis, and another costly 
and magnificent one existed here. This temple stood long 



ANCIENT RUINS. 



61 



after Christianity became the prevailing religion of Egypt. It 
was the last stronghold and refuge of Paganism. The ancient 
religion of Egypt gradually crumbled before the aggressive 
power of a new faith, and about A. D. 389 the votaries of the 
cross triumphed. 

The temple of Serapis, Gibbon informs us, rivaled the pride 
and magnificence of the capital. It stood upon the summit of 
an artificial mount, raised one hundred steps above the level of 
the surrounding parts of the city. The interior was firmly 
supported by arches, and distributed into vaults and subterra- 
nean apartments. The consecrated buildings were surrounded 
by a quadrangular portico. The stately halls and the exquisite 
statues displayed the triumph of the arts. In the decline of 
Paganism and the triumph of Christianity, this temple was ut- 
terly destroyed. 

Besides this temple, the city contained many other magnifi- 
cent works — an extensive circus for chariot races, and a gym- 
nasium six hundred feet in length, covering a space of an 
eighth of a mile, costly temples of Pagan deities, and princely 
palaces of rulers. It is the ruins of these gorgeous and mas- 
sive structures that now compose these unsightly mounds we see 
around us, over which the traveler often climbs unconscious of 
the noble monuments that are entombed beneath his feet. 

THE MONUMENTS OF THE PAST. 

But little is left, and yet that little is of great interest to the 
modern traveler. They are the links that connect him with 
the past, through which he catches faint glimpses of the former 
magnificence of the place. But as we are among strangers, 
and ignorant of the language, we shall need a guide and don- 
keys. Guides are plenty, and rapacious as wolves. They hang- 
around every public house, and pull you by the elbow at every 
corner of the street. Indeed, they commenced their importu- 
nities as far back as Malta, several coming on board our steam- 
er and offering, for a consideration of course, to go the whole 
journey with us. We had scarcely dropped anchor in the har- 
bor of Alexandria, before three or four were on board, present- 
ing their credentials and importuning for employment. If ever 



62 



EGYPT AND SINAI 



you visit Egypt, do not hire a dragoman at Malta. He will be 
an expensive and useless incumbrance to you on the voyage. 
Do not hire one even at Alexandria, except for occasional ex- 
cursions. You will not need one permanently until you are 
embarked in some long excursion, as going up the ^^'ile, or of 
tent life in Syria, or the Sinai desert. I employed a guide for 
the day, and now we shall have occasion to introduce to you a 
very useful and noted little animal, 

THE EGYPTIAN DONKEY. 

He is a small animal, usually about three feet and a half 
high, much lighter built than the Shetland pony. Though 
now abused and degraded, he claims an honored ancestry. He 
is said to be a descendant of the onager or wild ass of the 
mountainous deserts of Tartary — an animal renowned in histo- 
ry, sacred aud profane, for the fiery activity of its disposition, 
the flee tn ess of its course, and still highly prized in that coun- 
try, and in Persia, as better fitted for the saddle than their best 
breeds of horses. The ancient patriarch, Job, has introduced 
him as a specimen of God's noble works. 

" Who sent out the wild ass free, 

And who loosed the wanderers' bands ? 

Whose house I made the desert, 

And the barren wastes his abodes. 

He mocks at the clamor of the city ; 

The driver's shouts he hears not ; 

The range of the mountains is his pastures." 

IToble amimal ! how hast thou been debased, and what de- 
grading changes ignoble slavery has wrought in thy free, wild 
nature ! Though so small in size, and destitute of the ardor 
and impetuosity of the horse, though so stultified by the rigors 
of taskmasters hard as Israel ever knew, I do not see how 
Egypt, the desert, or the Arab could do without him. He is 
content with a much smaller quantity and coarser quality of 
food than supplies the horse, and is far better adapted to moun- 
tainous regions and these sandy plains. 

It is astonishing how useful the Egyptians contrive to make 
this insignificant little animal. He is horse, chariot, cart and 



LIFE IN ALEXANDRIA. 



63 



dray, and I had like to have said family companioD, for he 
may often be seen domiciled with the children in the huts of 
the fellahs. His ears are long, erect, and inclined forward ; his 
head, with its sleepy-looking eyes, like that of the schoolmas- 
ter's horse, described by Irving, is set on to the neck like a 
hammer. He is grave, sedate, looks wise, and minds his own 
business — is patient, and bears insult and abuse even to a fault, 
but when forbearance ceases to be a virtue, his resentments are 
kindled by the slumbering spirit of his ancestry. 

His pack-saddle is quite ornamental, variegated with party- 
colors of red and black, with a broad, stuffed, easy seat for the 
rider. His riding-bridle is usually a double rein, with a large 
bundle of polished brass rings strung on them, which answer 
the double purpose of ornament and of making a kind of tink- 
ling music when the animal is in motion. Camels are used for 
heavy burdens, but the donkey is the great institution for the 
transportation of persons, and all kinds of smaller wares and 
merchandise. Is a trunk or chest to be moved, it is clapped 
on to the back of a donkey, and held there by two or three 
bare-legged Arab boys; is water to be carried, he is loaded 
down with a curious looking freight of leather bottles ; is a 
cellar to be dug, a troop of donkeys, each with a pair of bas- 
kets strapped across his back, are seen wheeling in and out, 
carrying the dirt with the patience and precision of a grain 
elevator in one of our large flouring mills, while great stones 
for the walls are packed on to his back in the same manner; is 
a pleasure excursion to be made, these faithful little animals 
are at once brought into requisition. And now for our first 
experience in 

DONKEY-RIDING. 

We were no sooner at the hotel door than our wants were 
anticipated, and a score of donkey boys came shoving their ani- 
mals athwart our path. With their hair shaved close to the 
skin, and only a long tuft left upon the extremity of the tail, 
a huge saddle, that nearly covered them up, they certainly pre- 
sent a very ludicrous appearance. It was also amusing to see 
the earnestness with which the boys, in broken English, pre- 



64 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



sented the claims of their respective animals. " Have a donkey, 
sir? Good donkey — one ride sixpence. Have a donkey? 
Good donkey." Seeing me examine one as if about to make a 
choice, ''Dat boy's donkey? He bad — no good donkey — he 
tumble over head. He, he, hee ! My donkey good donkey — he 
go like steamboat. You take him, sah? Sixpence, only six- 
pence." The usual charge to foreigners is an English sixpence 
for a short excursion, or from fifty to sixty cents if hired by 
the day. 

Abdallah, my guide, made the selection, and I confess I felt 
a sympathy for the little beast, as I was about to place myself 
astride his puny form. He vras so small a strong man could 
easily have shouldered him, and it seemed to me my vreight 
would crush him to the ground. The moment I was on his 
back, my sympathy vanished, and my fears turned to wonder 
and admiration at the strength and fieetness with which the 
little fellow bore me, moving off in a canter, with the ease of a 
horse, my feet almost touching the ground. It is astonishing 
what burdens they will carry. I have sometimes seen two per- 
sons upon the back of one at the same time, and the meek lit- 
tle animal trudging along with as much patience as though he 
supposed himself destined to bear all the burdens his exacting 
taskmasters could lay upon him. If you have a donkey, you 
must have a 

DONKEY BOY. 

These boys are numerous and important enough to form a 
distinct class in the population of Egypt. They are usually 
from twelve to twenty years old, sharp and intelligent in all 
matters pertaining to their business, and possessed of great 
power of endurance. Their simple dress consists of a blue cot- 
ton frock or shirt, reaching from the shoulders to a little below 
the knees. A belt is drawn around the waist, and the frock 
being open above this in front, the bosom constitutes a pocket 
or receptacle into which all kinds of articles, nuts, bread, 
oranges, dates, etc., are stowed. This constitutes the lad's entire 
wardrobe, except it be a tarboosh, or sort of skull-cap for the 
head, which, most of them being Mohammedan boys, and having 



SIGHTS IN ALEXANDEIA. 



65 



the cranium closely shaved, except a single tuft upon the 
crown, makes a necessary appendage. 'No provision seems to 
be made for a change of clothing ; one robe answers till it is 
worn to tatters, and then another is substituted ; the independ- 
ent boy never gets in debt to the wash-woman. 

The donkey is seldom taught to be guided by the bit, as we 
use our horses, but the donkey boy runs behind him and guides 
him with a stick right and left, or urges him forward, as be- 
comes necessary. In this way he runs behind you all day long, 
if necessary, and seems to have as much power of endurance 
as the donkey himself. They carry a heavy stick in their hand, 
with which they hammer and cudgel the poor beast most un- 
mercifully, the hams of many of them being actually hard -and 
callous from the constant infliction of these heavy blows. Like 
the beasts they drive, they are accustomed to a coarse and sim- 
ple fare, and if they get small wages, it costs them but little to 
live. They are adepts in their business ; dealing so much with 
foreigners, and such a mixed multitude congregating in this 
part of the world, it is no uncommon thing to hear the same 
boy answering with equal facility in English, Arabic, French, 
Greek or Italian, and driving his bargain with astonishing 
shrewdness. At first I felt much commiseration for them at 
what seemed to be their hard lot in following my donkey hour 
after hour, but when one day one of them had run after me 
between thirty and forty miles, my donkey, some of the time, 
on a full gallop, I asked him if he was not getting tired. He 
seemed indignant at the bare insinuation, and answered me 
with a contemptuous tone: "Tired? No ! Donkey boy never 
get tired." 

But here I am in full canter on a donkey, boy behind, and 
guide before. What shall I show you first? Passing out of 
the gate on the southern side of the city, you have only eighteen 
hundred feet to ride, when you reach an irregular eminence, 
upon the summit of which stands 

pompey's pillar. 

It is an old and renowned monument, of pedestal, base, shaft 
and capital, all of which have been minutely examined by the 



66 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



curious and scientific. The pedestal is a huge block of granite, 
about ten feet square, on which is laid a thinner and broader 
stone, constituting the base of the column. From this shoots 
up an elegant shaft of red granite of Syene, round and smooth- 
ly polished, on which rests the capital, of a different kind of 
stone, and of inferior workmanship. The diameter at the top 
of the capital is sixteen feet six inches, and on it is supposed 
to have formerly stood an equestrian statue. This beautiful 
and magnificent shaft, rising in lonely and solemn grandeur 
from the ruins of a buried city, is all of one piece, seventy-three 
feet high and twenty- nine feet eight inches in circumference. 
The whole hight of the column from base to capital is ninety- 
eight feet nine inches. 

This interesting relic of antiquity has long oeen left unpro- 
tected. The lower end of the shaft and portions of the base 
have been much defaced by travelers, who have chipped off 
portions of the granite as mementoes of their visit. 

Returning to town, we passed through an extensive Turkish 
cemetery. The oblong white- washed monuments that covered 
the grounds are so different from any thing we see in our own 
country, they present a very novel appearance ; but the grounds 
were all open to the common, the tombs were in a dilapidated 
condition; no shade trees, grass-plats or shrubbery; the whole 
place had a desolate and cheerless aspect, contrasting strangely 
with the beautiful groves of palm trees, and the gardens of or- 
anges and citrons about it. We passed through the city, and 
directed our course to 

CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES. 

These are found at the northeast angle of the city, just with- 
in the walls and near the sea shore. Of these remarkable obe- 
lisks there are two, one standing, the other has fallen down, 
and is now nearly buried in the ground. They are of the same 
material as Pompey's Pillar, red granite, from the quarries of 
Syene, a town of Upper Egypt. It is said they stood original- 
ly at Heliopolis, before the Temple of the Sun, and were brought 
to Alexandria by one of the Caesars. The name of Cleopatra 
has become connected with them, but it is not known she ever 



CLEOPATEA'S NEEDLES. 



67 



had anything to do m their erection. The fallen one lies close 
to its pedestal, which stood on two steps of white lime-stone. 
The length of this one, in its mutilated state, is sixty-six feet, 
and was given, many years since, by Mohammed Ali to the En- 
glish government, as a token of gratitude for the assistance re- 
ceived from them. He even went so far as to offer to put it on 
board any transport they might send to convey it to England. 
For some reason the offer was not accepted, and now it is so 
much mutilated, and the inscriptions so defaced, the project of 
its removal has been entirely abandoned. It will soon be buried 
from sight, another entombed memorial of the massive monu- 
ments of an extinct race. These two obelisks stood about 
seventy paces apart, gracing the entrance to some magnificent 
structure, probably the grand Temple of Csesar, the ruins of 
which have now entirely disappeared. 

The standing obelisk is about seventy feet high, seven feet 
seven inches in diameter at the base, and tapering towards the 
top to less than five feet. Three long lines of hieroglyphics 
stretch from base to apex along each side of this huge shaft. 
It was the first Egyptian monument I had met inscribed with 
these strange characters, and long and earnestly I gazed upon 
them. Upon two sides of the monument these characters have 
been much injured by the action of the winds and drifting 
sands, but the cuttings of the other two sides still retain a re- 
markable freshness, and one wonders how they could so long 
and so successfully have resisted the corroding power of time. 

The awe with which one looks upon these strange characters 
is now much diminished, for the awful vail of mystery that once 
enshrouded them has been lifted, the patience and perseverance 
of iriodern investigation has triumphed, the secrets of the obe- 
lisks, tombs and pyramids have been unfolded. The central 
line of hieroglyphics is found to be much the oldest, and fixes 
the date of the king in whose reign it was first erected. Wil- 
kinson finds here the name of Thothmes III, a monarch who 
.reigned fourteen hundred and ninety-five years before Christ. 
In the side lines are the ovals of Remeses the Great, the sup- 
posed Sesostris, 1353 before Christ. 

With what feelings of wonder and reverence one gazes upon 



68 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



these monumental records of men and cities that have long 
since passed away ! l^early thirty -five hundred years ago these 
immense blocks of stone were chiseled and carved with exquis- 
ite skill, transported hundreds of miles, and by herculean 
power set upon their strong foundations. Did not God permit 
them to be constructed, and has he not preserved them as pre- 
cious leaves in his historic books, that the knowledge of the 
past might not be entirely obliterated? From Cleopatra's 'Nee- 
dles, we turned to visit 

THE CATACOMBS. 

We have been traveling over the ruins of the city of the liv- 
ing, gazing upon its monuments, and trampling upon the 
crumbling ruins of temples and palaces. This is Necropolis, 
THE City of the Dead ! A ride of a little more than two miles 
and a half towards the coast to the westward of the city, 
brought us upon the confines of these wonderful subterranean 
structures, which, it is said, more than any thing else, attests the 
greatness of the former city. The grounds near the entrance 
were once covered with the costly habitations and beautiful 
gardens of the suburbs of the city. It is not only the vast ex- 
tent of these underground tenements that excite admiration, 
but the architectural symmetry and beauty found in many of 
them, the more wonderful from the fact that they are all chis- 
eled in the solid rock. One chamber has a Doric entablature 
and moldings of the Greek style, there being nothing like it 
in any other part of Egypt. 

In one place my guide took me into a small rock-hewn tem- 
ple entirely under ground. There was an altar and seat for the 
officiating priest, and a ledge of the native rock left around 
three sides, in the form of the settees or divans in oriental 
buildings, intended for seats. From it doors opened into sev- 
eral other chambers, with numerous niches cut in the rocks, in- 
tended as receptacles for the bodies of the dead. It was evi- 
dently intended, and used in former days, for the performance 
of sepulchral rites. I could not but reflect, as I stood in this 
subterranean chapel, how awfully solemn and impressive must 
have been the obsequies of the dead in these lower regions ! 



MONUMENTAL STONES. 



69 



The profound stillness, the dim hght of the flickering lamps, 
the solemn chant and funeral wail, all the gloomy associations 
of the place must have added intense solemnity to the scene, 
as mourners and friends gathered around the bier in this lone 
charnel house. In these tombs generation after generation de- 
posited their dead. Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Eomans and 
Saracens have, no doubt, in turn used them, and different na- 
tions, the rich and the poor, the lordling and the slave, have 
here blended in common dust. 

Most of these tombs are now empty ; through chamber after 
chamber scarce a bone can be found. Some of them date back 
to an early Egyptian period, and in them have been found sar- 
cophagi, mummies, gold and silver ornaments, vases of differ- 
ent materials and of curious workmanship, which have been 
taken to enrich the museums of Europe and America. 

But we must close our visits to these monumental records 
that link the present with the past. Ancient Alexandria, with 
all her magnifi.cence and splendor, is now nothing but heaps of 
ruins. The modern city stands upon the ruins of the past, like 
a monumental stone upon the burial vault of the dead. Here 
costly palaces of kings and gigantic temples of deities have 
fallen and crumbled, and over their ruins the desert sands have 
drifted, and on the accumulated piles of broken shafts, capitals 
and entablatures, the rank weeds flourish and the careless villa- 
ger roams. The wild Arab came with his sword and spear, 
and rolled the desolations of war over the place. The monu- 
ments of splendor, wealth and art wasted before him — ruin and 
death were in his path. Pompey's Pillar and Cleopatra's 'Nee- 
dle alone are left, lifting their giant forms against the sky — en- 
during monuments, marking, like grave-stones, the site of a 
dead and entombed city. 



70 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



CHAPTER VI. 

A i^iaHT IN Alexandria — Eide to Cairo — Sights and Scenes 
Along the Way. 

There is but little in modem Alexandria of interest to the 
traveler. The European population have exerted great influ- 
ence upon the place; the streets have been named and the 
houses numbered. The population is a mixed multitude of 
many kindreds, tribes and tongues, and not famous for their 
morality or integrit}^ 

The Frank square, supposed to occupy the very site of the 
ancient docks, is by far the most inviting place in the city. In 
this square stands a small obelisk of oriental alabaster, pre- 
sented to the city by Mohammed Ali. Around the square the 
English church, the principal hotels, and the offices of most of 
the foreign consuls are found. The city is now a great com- 
mercial place, and many of the Franks and Greeks are quite 
wealthy. 

The streets of the Turkish quarter are narrow, irregular and 
dirty, there being no appearance of plan or order in the ar- 
rangement of them or the houses. Occasionally, a fine lat- 
ticed window or an old Saracenic arch will arrest attention, 
while the bazars present a most novel and curious scene to one 
who has never before visited a city of the Orient. After a ride 
through the bazars, along the harbor, by the canal among the 
multitude of boats, piles of merchandise, long lines of store- 
houses, and queer looking laborers of all colors, tribes and 
tongues, Abdalla took me to 

THE viceroy's PALACE. 

This was built by Mohammed Ali, when Alexandria was 
raised to the distinction of sharing with Cairo the honors of 



JUSTICE IN A HAEEM. 



71 



the capital. It is a fine residence, combining the European 
and Oriental styles of architecture. It stands upon an emin- 
ence facing the harbor, commanding a most enchanting view 
of the port and the shipping. The entrance was through a 
small garden into a large inclosure, with high walls on all sides. 
The ascent of a Turkish staircase brought us to the entrance 
of the principal rooms, at the head of which we found two 
Arab servants, keeping watch over the place. A backsheesh, 
of course, could only open the doors of this sanctum of royalty. 
The fee was paid; Abdallah slipped off his shoes and left them 
at the head of the stands; the servants, having no polluting in- 
cumbrance of the kind, had no preparation to make, while I, 
being a Frank, and not expected to observe the usual forms 
of sanctity that characterize the place, was allowed to walk on, 
with hat and shoes, unmolested. The style is Oriental and 
gaudy in the extreme. Some of the rooms are magnificently 
furnished, enriched and ornamented with costly presents from 
the different sovereigns of Europe. One of the most remarka- 
ble of these, is a splendid round table of Roman mosaic, repre- 
senting the most interesting monuments of the Eternal City — 
a present from the Pope. iTear the palace, just across the 
public highway, and also facing the sea, is 

THE HAREM. 

This, of course, we were not allowed to visit, but the gate of 
the outer inclosure standing open, we were witnesses of a very 
novel, but I cannot say interesting, scene. J ust without the 
gate, three swarthy looking fellows had an Ethiopian servant, 
naked down to the hips, prostrate upon his face, one holding 
him by the hands and head, another by the feet, while the 
third was laying a rope's end upon his naked back as though 
his very life depended upon the vigor with which he applied it. 
The poor fellow groaned, writhed and yelled, but there was no 
mercy for him. Seeing a crowd rapidly gathering, the execu- 
tioner paused, made a pass at them with his rope's end, scatter- 
ing them in double quick time, while the two assistants jerked 
their victim within the inclosure and slammed to the gate. 
Instigated by the curiosity common to our race, I told Abdallah 



72 



EGYPT AISD SINAI. 



to step up to the gate and see if he could learn what crime the 
poor fellow had committed for which he was so severly handled. 
He returned in a few minutes, stating that the fellow had stolen 
money and lied about it, and that they were going to get salt 
water to dip the rope in and continue the beating. O, Justice ! 
if this is the rigor with which thou dealest in the harems of 
Pashas, I should choose to incur thy displeasure in some place 
where thine exactions come with a slower and lighter hand ! 
The day closes, and our excursion ends. To-morrow morning 
I am to leave for Cairo, to see more of the wonders of this land, 
to catch the first glimpses of the mighty pyramids, and walk 
the streets of the old city of the Caliphs. 

NIGHT IN AN EGYPTIAN CITY 

Is a gloomy place; no gas-light, business suspended, stores 
and shops all closed, no amusements, no meetings, no windows 
next the streets to shed even a little light upon the gloomy 
alleys; if the moon does not come out to. relieve the scene, all 
is literally involved in Egyptian darkness. 

I sat down to review the day, my first among the scenes of the 
Orient. That dragoman ! who had so kindly urged himself upon 
me as guide, seemed to stand like a spectre before me. Let me 
see — how much am I indebted to him ? I had to pay fifty 
cents for a donkey for him, and a backsheesh to his donkey 
boy ; he made me pay double backsheesh to a ragged old Arab 
at Pompey's Pillar, who pretended to take care of it, and an- 
other at Cheopatra's i^eedle, when neither of them had a right 
to a single para, and had no business there only to beg from 
travelers ; asked me for a shilling to buy a wax candle with which 
to go into the catacombs, when he knew the old Turk in attend- 
ance would furnish a torch and make me pay roundly for it, 
and he would keep the candle for his own use when he got 
home ; asked me to give a backsheesh to the old Turk and a 
few pence to each of half a dozen ragged children he called his 
family ; made me pay fifty cents to those rapacious servants at 
the Pasha's palace, when half that amount would have been 
more than enough ; helped me to do a little shopping, and con- 
nived with the salesman to make me pay double price for every 



A NIGHT IN ALEXANDRIA. 



73 



article; then charged me only one dollar and a half for his ser- 
vices, and got through time enough to go all around again and 
gather up half the backsheesh as his share of the spoils ! All 
this when I could just as well have dispensed with his services, 
taken a donkey boy, that could talk English, and done the 
whole of it with the aid of my guide-book. 0, Abdallah Sulei- 
man ! I must record thy name in my book as a type of thy pro- 
fession. I see I have many things to learn — I shall be wiser 
when I get to Cairo. 

The morning light found me wakeful, as I had been through 
the night. Darkness was upon the city, but silence held no 
dominion. Dogs are among the notable things of this land 
and city. They go trooping about in packs like wolves. They 
are a gaunt, hyena-looking breed, acknowledging no master, and 
yielding obedience to no law but that of their own savage na- 
ture. They make night hideous with their bowlings, and get 
up numerous lights, which seem to be a part of their regular 
business. In addition to this, we had 

THE watchman's CALL. 

Every fifteen minutes a yell rung through the city as if a 
hundred men were prompted by some impending calamity to 
rouse the sleeping denizens. I learned in the morning these 
were the watchmen. Every fifteen minutes the leader of a di- 
vision, taking an assigned stand, gathers himself up for the 
efibrt, and commences a long, shrill cry ; each watchman catches 
the key and prolongs the sound. It goes from street to street, 
from square to square, till every dome, turret and battlement 
rings with the echoes. A calm of fifteen minutes succeeds, and 
again the prolonged shout assures the waking citizen " all is 
well." Then came, as a strictly Mohammedan peculiarity of 
the place, 

THE muezzin's CALL TO PRAYER. 

Eive periods are set apart in each day as special seasons of 
prayer. These every good Mohammedan is expected to ob- 
serve, but they are often neglected, and many persons, it is said, 
do not pray at all. But this neglect does not arise from the 



74 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



want of an admonition. From the minarets of their mosques 
the call is regularly made. One of these calls is just after mid- 
night, another about the break of day. At the appointed hour 
the muezzin ascends to the gallery of the minaret, pitches his 
voice to a monotonous chant, and commences : God is great, 
God is great I Prayer is better than sleep. I testify that there 
is no deity but God. I testify that Mohammed is God's apos- 
tle. Come to prayer, come to prayer." The call varies upon 
different occasions. Sometimes quite long exhortations are 
given. The time for the morning call is just as the light is 
dawning, at the very moment, say their books, that a man can 
distinguish between a black thread and a white. Most of these 
pious watchmen have very harmonious voices, and as they come 
breaking in melodious sweetness upon the still air of night, 
there is in them a simple and solemn melody at once peculiar 
and touching. 

OFPPORCAIRO. 

The present facilities for reaching Cairo can only be appre- 
ciated by those who have been familiar wuth the former slow 
locomotion of canal and river. Then, it was by the toilsome 
process of wind, sails and oars ; now, a first class railroad of one 
hundred and thirty miles in length connects the two cities. 
There are three rates of fare, ten, five and a half, and two dol- 
lars nearly, when reduced to our money. At 9 o'clock a. m., 
the last signal whistle w^as given, the motley crowd that had 
gathered around opened right and left, and we struck out into 
the great delta of the J^ile. Upon our right, as we pass, is lake 
Mareotis, an immense sheet of water, renowned in old Egyptian 
history. It was formerly connected by canals with the river, 
its banks were thickly inhabited, and it was adorned by several 
beautiful and fertile islands. The gravelly nature of the soil 
of these islands peculiarly fitted them for the culture of the 
grape, and the Mareotic wine was celebrated above all others 
for its exquisite qualities. 

Away to the left is the harbor of Aboukir, where I^elson 
w^ith his fleet met the French in 1798. The conflict was a 
bloody one — the English losing in killed and wounded eight 



COMPULSORY LABOR. 75 

hundred and ninety-five men, the French fifty-two hundred 
and twenty -five. His victory was complete; all the French 
ships except two were captured, and the victor was rewarded 
with the title, Baron Nelson of the Nile. And now may be seen 
the long-pointed lateen sails of the boats upon 

MOHAMMED'S GREAT CANAL. 

This canal is about sixty miles in length, connecting Alexan- 
dria with the Mle at Atfeh. It was formerly the main thor- 
oughfare for travelers, and still continues to be for large quanti- 
ties of merchandise and produce. There was a canal here in 
ancient times, but Mohammed Ali found it in a ruined condi- 
tion, a portion of it having been choked up for centuries. This 
energetic but exacting prince found it necessary to repair it, to 
consummate his plans for making Alexandria the commercial 
capital of his kingdom. He made a compulsory levy upon the 
villages of the land for workmen. It is said that twenty thous- 
and men were employed on it without pay, driven to their work 
like beasts of burden. These were relieved from time to time 
by fresh relays, each working a certain number of days. Such 
was the energy with which the work was prosecuted, it was 
completed in six months. And yet such was the fatigue and 
exposure of the workmen, poorly fed, and unaccustomed to the 
low and swampy grounds, it is estimated that from twenty to 
thirty thousand of them perished. So level is the country, 
there is not a single lock the whole sixty miles from Alexandria 
to Atfeh. It is a long, muddy, dirty ditch, twelve to fifteen 
feet deep, and fifty to one hundred wide. 

Much of the land in the vicinity of Alexandria is low and 
wet, too much so for cultivation. As we passed on, the fertility 
of the land seemed to increase. The immense green plain 
stretched out upon each side of us as far as the eye could reach. 
The second crops since the inundation were now growing, the 
first having been harvested about two months since. Crops of 
some kind are raised all the year round, except when the soil 
is covered \vith water from the inundation of the Mle. There 
is no frost or cold weather sufficient to prevent the growth of 
vegetation. 



76 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



Every thing as you pass has a strange and oriental look. 
Manners, costumes, modes of building, living and working, are 
all different from what we have been accustomed to see. Occa- 
sionally we pass one of 

THE MODERN VILLAGES. 

The present population, numbering about two millions, are 
gathered into the cities and villages. These villages of the 
fellah's are the most miserable places imaginable. The houses 
are small, dirty and uncomfortable, built of unburnt bricks, and 
cemented with mud. Most of them are only one story high, and 
have but one room. A few pieces of the palm tree are stretched 
across the top as beams or joists to support the roof, on which 
are laid millet stalks or palm leaves, and over these is daubed a 
covering of mud. A hole or two in the mud walls, sometimes 
grated, constitute the windows and answer for the admission 
of light and air. Glass is seldom seen. The door is low, often 
not more than three or four feet high, and this, in many in- 
stances, answers for both door and window. The floor is not 
unfrequently a foot or two below the level of the ground. A 
little elevation of earth, about a foot high and two broad, runs 
around a portion of the room in the form of a divan, answering 
the purpose of a seat b}^ day and a bed by night, on which 
they spread a mat, if they are able to indulge in such a luxury ; 
if not, the bare ground is used. Most of these houses have an 
oven, built, like the houses, of mud and brick, arched within 
and flat on the top. In cold nights the top of this is the family 
lodging place, a fire having been kindled within. As they 
have no extra clothing for the night, this arrangement often 
adds much to the comfort of the inmates. These villages they 
generally contrive to build upon a little eminence, formed gen- 
erally by the debris of ruined towns, that they may escape the 
inundations of the ISTile. 

Their furniture is of the simplest and most economical kind. 
Think of it, ye daughters of luxury, who go laden from your 
fathers' houses with a costly supply fit for a palace ! A mat, if 
convenient, for a bed, if not, the mud floor, or the top of the oven, 
will answer; a little hand-mill to grind the corn, a skillet to cook 



WOMEN OF THE LOWER CLASSES AND 
MODE OF CARRYING CHILDREN. 



CONDITION OF THE NATIVES. 



79 



it in, and a stone jar or two for water, and tlie young couple are 
ready to enter upon the fond enjoyments and responsible du- 
ties of the conjugal relation. ISTo chairs, no bedsteads, no 
tables, no chest of drawers, no spoons, knives or forks, and as 
for a wardrobe— shade of Flora McFlimsey! — a blue cotton 
frock or chemise, the corner of which sometimes answers for a 
vail, the only dress by day and the only garment by night, de- 
fying the power of fashion to change its form or cast it aside 
till worn to shreds, its place is supplied by a fellow of its own 
likeness. And as for the little ones — what native simplicity! 
1^0 waste of soap, no morning and evening chorus over the 
dreaded wash-bowl ; and if you have no rags to cover them, they 
go rollicking about the door, or troop in herds about the village 
common, in costume such as Dame E"ature alone bestows. 

I am aware this will be thought an exaggerated picture, but I 
am dealing in grave realities. About Alexandria and Cairo, 
and along the line of the railroads, frequent contact with the 
Franks, and the introduction of European habits of tidiness, 
and attention to personal appearance, has produced considera- 
ble change. The habits of dress and modes of life have been 
much improved, and naked children are not as often seen. But 
in many parts of the land it is astonishing with what strange 
indifference the unrobed human figure is regarded. The pro- 
prieties of civilized life, among both male and female, are 
Strangely disregarded. ]^or have I overdrawn the cheerless, 
comfortless, destitute condition of their homes. They live 
mostly out of doors, and men and women, in their thin, dirty 
dress of blue, may be seen at all hours of the day, sitting 
around the outside of their miserable mud hovels, flat upon the 
bare ground, in the midst of filth and fleas, with their squalid 
children gathering around them. Chickens are abundant, and 
appear to enjoy uninterrupted ingress and egress to all the hu- 
man apartments; while goats roam in unrestrained liberty; 
donkeys make a part of the family household, and savage, 
hyena-looking dogs roll in the dirt with the children, or lie 
basking in the sun on the house-tops, or, what is more common, 
come driving at you with open mouth and wolf-like fierceness. 
The fellaheen or villagers of Egypt may have a different stand- 



80 



EGYPT AKD SINAI. 



ard of social bliss and tlie comforts of life from other portions 
of the world, but to one accustomed to the blessings and luxu- 
ries of civilization, they appear to be reduced to the most 
abject poverty and wretchedness. Of such degradation, filth 
and squalid misery, I had never before formed a conception, 
l^either Europe, in the abject poverty of factory operatives and 
miners, or America, with her delving slave population, can 
give any examples of the kind. 

The men appear to be a lounging, indolent, easy set of fel- 
lows, more lazy than vicious. Some women of the lower class 
go entirely without vails, and are often seen engaged in 
the most menial drudgery ; yet even in such ones the ruling 
passion for ornament shows itself; a row of small coins or coral 
beads will grace the neck, a massive bracelet adorn the wrist, 
and not unfrequently the ears, and sometimes even the nose, is 
graced with a pendant of clumsy jewelry. Some tattoo the 
arms and the face, and others stain their nails, eye-brows, and 
sometimes other portions of the body, with henna. The chil- 
dren of these poor peasants are a forlorn looking set. Their 
eyes, often affected with ophthalmia, nearly closed up and cov- 
ered with files, are never washed, for fear of increasing the vir- 
ulence of the disease! They are often carried about sitting 
carelessly astride the mother's shoulder, apparently as much 
at ease, and having as little fear of falling as though they were 
snuggly tucked into a cradle. But after all the debasement 
and poverty to which the lowest class of the female population 
is subjected, bare-limbed and scantily clad as they are, there is 
often a dignity and grace in their movements, contrasting 
strangely with their personal appearance. To see one standing 
erect, with her child astride of her shoulder, or bearing a well 
poised water-jar upon her head without the assistance of either 
hand, as one has well said, no Audalusian could tread the earth 
with greater freedom or grace. 

As you ride on, cast your eye right and left over the plain. 
The monotony of the green valley is broken here and there, not 
only by such a mud village as we have described, but occasion- 
ally a sheik's tomb, a little dome-like, white-washed structure, 
is seen amidst the verdure, and here and there the graceful 



THE HEAD-DRESS. 



81 



date-palm lifts its strait and elegant form into the air, shaking 
its graceful feathery foliage in the breeze. "Where now so few- 
villages are seen the land was once densely peopled. 

THE PRESENT POPULATION. 

The present population of Egypt is truly a mixed multitude ; 
here are Moslem Egyptians, Christian Egyptians or Copts, Os- 
manlees or Turks, Syrians, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, and rep- 
resentatives of most of the European nations. The Moslem 
Arabs compose the main portion of the population, and though 
strangers and foreigners, they have overrun and possessed the 
land. Their number and influence have been such as to entirely 
change the language, laws and general manners of the countr}^. 
A large mixture of Abyssinian blood, and of other African 
tribes has been introduced among them, so that they vary much 
in the color of their skin — some have a clear yellowish com- 
plexion, some are tawny, others quite black. The country 
people, or agriculturists, are called fellaheen, the singular is 
fellah. The language of the county is Arabic ; this is taught 
in their schools, and made the general medium of communica- 
tion for contracts, business and official transactions. 

THE TURBAN. 

We have spoken of the dress of the lower classes — -that of 
the middle class is much better, and of the higher class often 
elaborate, rich and elegant. The turban is a Moslem institu- 
tion, and worthy of special notice. The men all wear it while 
living, and a marble one usually adorns their grave when dead. 
Their method of shaving the head makes a head-dress more 
essential, not only to cover up the bald portion of the closely 
shaven pate, but also to conceal the strange looking tuft that 
crowns its summit. The uncovered head of one of these sons 
of Ishmael has certainly a very fantastic appearance, and would 
not fail to excite the mirth of any one unaccustomed to it; 
therefore, they are as careful of uncovering the head in com- 
pany as a bald gentleman with us would be of lifting his wig. 

A small, close-fitting cotton cap is drawn over the head ; over 
this is drawn a ''tarboosh," a red cloth or felt cap, also fitting 



82 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



close, rounded upon the top to conform to the shape of the 
skull, and surmounted with a long, heavy tassel of dark blue 
silk. To complete the toilet, a long cashmere shawl, or piece 
of white muslin, or striped silk, or any other color to suit the 
degree of rank, religious sect, or fancy of the wearer, is wound 
several times around the head, and the ends tucked under. 
This is the turban. Mohammed wore it, and every Mussulman 
esteems and honors it, though it is a hot and cumbersome head- 
dress for a warm climate. Among the poorer class of boys, 
many, from poverty, wear only the cotton cap, and some add 
the tarboosh, without the cumbrous scarf adornment. A she- 
reef," or descendant of the Prophet, is permitted to wear a 
green turban, and may also sometimes be seen in a bright 
green dress. 

Several different sects are distinguished by the color and 
form of the turban. The Druses of Syria wear a monstrous 
white one ; the Jews and Copts, conforming to the custom of 
the country, wear them, but of a different color from those of 
the Turks and Arabs — those of the Jews almost uniformly be- 
ing of dark blue. As an instance of the great respect paid to 
the turban, a story is told of a sheik who was thrown from 
his donkey in the streets of Cairo, and himself and turban sent 
rolling in the dirt. The bystanders pursued the turban, crying, 
"Lift up the crown of El Islam." The unfortunate sheik, 
vexed that his head-dress should receive more attention than 
his person, gathered himself up and cried out in anger: "Lift 
up the sheik of El Islam." 

SLIPPERS, SMOKING, SIGNET RINGS. 

Stockings are not worn, but cotton or woolen socks are some- 
times put on in the coldest weather. The shoes are a low kind 
of slippers, made of bright red morocco, sharply pointed at the 
toes, and turned up like a sled runner. As these are always 
slipped off when one enters a mosque, or steps upon a mat or 
carpet, they are generally worn turned down at the heel. 

Smoking is a national business; find an Egyptian if you can 
without a pipe in his mouth, and a pouch of tobacco in his bo- 



LADIES' COSTUMES. 



83 



som. They live and die amid the curling clouds and delicious 
fragrance of the Indian weed. 

A signet ring or seal is carried by almost every person who 
can afford it. This is generally of silver, worn upon the little 
finger, or carried in the purse with the money. On this is en- 
graved the person's name, and in all written contracts is 
stamped upon the paper as witness of the bargain, and is thus 
substituted for the written name of the person. This use of 
the seal is an ancient custom, dating back even anterior to the 
Hebrews, and often alluded to in the word of God. 

WOMEN AND THE VATL. 

Whatever may be said of the squalid condition of the 
women we have before described, and the debasing influence 
of their condition in life, the middle and higher classes com- 
mand far more respect. In build and feature, they are often 
models of beauty; in personal habits, tidy and circumspect. 
The Egyptian girl is a woman at the age of nine or ten, and at 
the age of fifteen or sixteen they have attained their highest 
degree of perfection. Their complexion is much like that of 
the men, varying, of course, by the degree of exposure to which 
they are subjected. The face is generally oval, in some instances 
quite broad. As they go vailed, a face is seldom seen. The 
eyes are generally black, large, shining and expressive, and their 
effect is much hightened by the concealment of the other por- 
tions of the face. The vail is as much revered among the wo- 
men as the turban among the men. This article of dress has a 
date of high antiquity, for we read of it as long ago as the days 
of Abraham, but it seems not to have been worn among the an- 
cient Egyptians, if we may judge from their sculptured monu- 
ments. The upper part and back of the head are the first ob- 
jects of care, then the face. Most of them deem it more im- 
portant to conceal the face than other portions of the body.' 
If a poor woman has no vail, she will often lift the skirt of her 
scanty dress and cover her face while the traveler is passing. 
Of late, the constant presence of unvailed Frank women in 
their cities, is already making some inroads upon this rigid cus- 
tom of the Egyptian ladies. 



84 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



The walking- dress of the genteel class is certainly unique, 
and would much discomfit our modern belles, who go abroad 
not only to see, but to be seen. With an enormous white vail, 
reaching from the top of the nose to the feet, the head envel- 
oped in an immense shawl, and over all a large flowing robe of 
black, they have much the appearance of immense walking 
bundles of black silk, a good representation of which may be 
seen in the accompanying engraving, 

THE FIELD OF ZOAN. 

But while we have been looking at these mud villages, and 
examining these strange costumes, we are coming in sight of a 
portion of the country intimately connected with the sojourn 
of the Hebrews in this land of their captivity. In one of the 
Psalms it is said, ''Marvelous things did he in the sight of 
their fathers in the field of Zoan." Cast your eye over the 
broad, green country upon our left, reaching away down to- 
wards the Mediterranean behind us, and stretching many miles 
to the eastward, where it keeps up a continual warfare with the 
encroaching sands of the desert. Here was Zoan, called also 
Goshen, one of the most productive portions of Egypt. It is 
said to have received its name, Goshen, from the Arabic word 
'' gush," signifying a heart, or whatever is choice and precious. 
The boundaries of the portion of the land thus designated, it is 
impossible now to tell ; it must have been at least one hundred 
miles in length, and probably about the same in breadth. In 
addition to this fertile portion of the valley of the JSTile, the Is- 
raelites probably occupied a wide range of the desert country 
towards the Ked Sea and the land of Canaan, that during some 
poi:tions of the year might have afforded pasture for their nu- 
merous flocks. 

CHANGES THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE. 

This part of the country has undergone such changes during 
the last three thousand years, it is difficult to form a conception 
of what it might have been at that remote period. That the 
fertile land was much more extensive than now, is evident, as 
there has been a great failure of the waters of the eastern 



ladies' walking dress. 



i 



JACOB'S VISIT TO EGYPT. 



87 



branch of the I^Tile. The main body of the river has been 
crowding more and more to the westward, and the channels on 
that side have deepened as the eastern have diminished. As 
the Mle has grown less, there has been a continual augmenta- 
tion of the drift sand-hills along the plain, and much land, once 
productive as a garden, is now a waste and cheerless desert. 
This same encroachment of the sands is seen in other places in 
Egypt. Above Kosetta, on the west bank of the Wile, palm 
trees are now standing, fifty to sixty feet high, nearly buried in 
the sand. 

Here were Pharaoh's pasture grounds — here the family of the 
Hebrews found a home. As I strained my eyes to see even the 
farthest portions of the land, I recalled 

THE STRANGE STORY OF THEIR BONDAGE. 

Jacob had hoped to live and die in Canaan. He came to 
Hebron, and built there an altar and offered sacrifices to the 
God of his fathers. In that cave upon the hill-side rested the 
ashes of his noble sires, Abraham and Isaac; there had been bu- 
ried Sarah, Eebecca, and his own wife, Leah. A strange train 
of events called him away from his <3hosen home. As I looked 
out in the direction of Hebron, I fancied I saw the venerable 
old man on his journey to this land of strangers, impelled by 
the famine behind, and drawn onward by the strong affection 
of his heart for an idolized son whom he had long before given 
up as dead. How cheering and sustaining must have been that 
promise of God, " I am the God of thy father. Fear not to go 
down into Egypt, fur I will there make thee a great nation, 
and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyesJ^ Gen. xlvi. 3, 4. 

How affecting that meeting between the old man and his 
long-lost son ! Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to 
meet him in Goshen ; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his 
neck a good while." "With what filial affection he watched over 
the old man's infirm and trembling age ! ^N'early a century and 
a half the old man had borne the burdens and cares of a labo- 
rious and eventful life^ and now he must die. He called his 
faithful son Joseph, and exacted of him a promise, under the 

solemnities of an oath, that he would bury him with his fathers 
6 



88 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



in tlie cave that is in the field of Macphelah before Mamre, in 
the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought from Ephron the 
Hittite. The reason he assigns is full of poetic beauty and 
melting tenderness. There they buried Abraham and Sarah 
his wife; there they buried Isaac and Eebecca his wife, and 
there I buried Leah." The last blessing was given, the last 
expiring sigh escaped the cold, pale lips, " he gathered up his 
feet into his bed and yielded up the ghost." Then it was that 
the promise was fulfilled; Joseph Ms hand upon his fathefs 
eyes and closed them in death ; then also he fell upon that rigid 
face, and wept upon it and kissed it. The body was embalmed ; 
the forty days of mourning were ended, and Joseph went up 
out of Egypt with a great retinue of servants and nobles of the 
land, and chariots and horses, redeemed his oath, and laid his 
sire in the sepulchre of his fathers. How strange it seems to 
be, looking out upon the land where these early and interest- 
ing incidents of sacred history transpired ! 

Such was the beginning of a strange record, the wonderful 
events of which we shall recall as we stand upon the site of the 
ancient court of Pharaoh, ride over the waters of the Sed Sea, 
travel in the wilderness, climb the mount of God, and traverse 
the Holy Land. 

THE DAYS OF ADVERSITY. 

Joseph lived one hundred and twenty years, and until he 
saw the fourth generation of his children growing up around 
him. His brethren prospered and multiplied exceedingly in 
the land.' At last Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all 
that generation ; and now commenced the afilictions of his peo- 
ple. Our best friends are often succeeded by our bitterest ene- 
mies, and ingratitude becomes the reward of our best services. 
Other kings arose, and Joseph and all his valuable services 
were forgotten, and Israel's pleasant refuge was made a place 
of bitter bondage. Their rapid increase was only the fulfill- 
ment of the promise of God, made hundreds of years before to 
Abraham, that he would make of him a great nation, and his 
seed should be as the stars of heaven for multitude ; but this in- 
crease provoked the jealousy and aroused the fears of their ru- 



AFFLICTIONS OF ISKAEL. 



89 



lers. The king said unto his people, The children of Israel 
are more and mightier than we." 

Then commenced a systematic course of oppression. They 
set task-masters over them, and afflicted them with grievous 
and heavy burdens ; they made them build great treasure cities 
— Pithom and Raamses ; they made their lives bitter with hard 
bondage ; they made them work in field and in city, and in all 
manner of brick. How we are reminded of this as we pass 
along! There is a company of men engaged just as these Isra- 
elites were three thousand years ago — a pile of clay upon one 
side, and a pile of straw, chopped and broken into small pieces, 
upon the other ; the laborers are mixing the materials in due 
proportion and with proper care, pressing the old-fashioned 
compound into the requisite shape, and laying the bricks in the 
sun to dry — an old art handed down from remote ages, awaking 
vivid remembrance of Israel's bondage and labor ; " they made 
them work in mortar and brick," and at last denied them straw, 
and sent them gleaning about the fields, yet demanding the 
full count of bricks. But all this rigorous oppression signally 
failed of attaining the desired end, for the more they afflicted 
them, the more they grew and multiplied. 

Then came that cruel edict for the destruction of their chil- 
dren; and the earth, that had been watered with the sweat of 
their toil, echoed with the lamentations of fathers and mothers 
for the slain of their households. But there was an eye in 
heaven to witness, an ear to hear, and a hand to record and 
mete out justice. "For the oppression of the poor, for the 
sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord." And 
the Lord did arise, as we shall have occasion to see in our visits 
to other portions of the land. Oppression never prospers. He 
who tramples upon human rights, sets his foot upon a Divine 
creation, and the recoil will assuredly pierce the oppressor with 
a fatal dart. The Lord did arise in a strange and mysterious 
way; his people were delivered, their persecutors punished, 
and the promises made to their ancestors hundreds of years 
previous fulfilled. 

We have made our story long enough — we shall learn more as 
we proceed. Look out of the car window. We are coming to 



90 



EGYPT AXD SIXAl. 



a halt right in one of tliese Egyptian villages. Do you see that 

long, low line of water just bv the side of us? It is | 

THE NILE. ] 

i 

The Xile ! The Xile I How it awakened the memory of a 
thousand strange and interesting events! Can the most stupid 

and unimaginative gaze upon it for the first time and feel no j 

rising of enthusiasm ? A river that has a place in history by ; 

the side of the Euphrates and the Jordan ; for thousands of i 

years sending out a living flood from its mysterious and hidden I 

sources, rolling onward through this great valley, and emptying ■. 

itself, by its seven mouths, into the great blue sea; a river 1 

which runs a thousand miles without receiving a single tribu- \ 

tary; a river which the Egyptians worshiped, and whose j 

waters by the rod of Moses were turned into blood ; a river the , 

great size of which astonished the Greeks and Eomans. and ] 

the annual overflow of which to them was a profound mystery; \ 

a river the waters of which have been extolled by the Egyp- \ 

tians above all others — ^of which the Mussulman says, if Mo- j 

hammed had tasted its waters, he would have prayed heaven ■ 

for a terrestrial immortality, that he might continue to enjoy it j 

forever. Eut, enthusiasm aside, let us look at these moving j 

waters, and learn something of this river's \ 

CHARACTER A XDHISTORT. j 

Born among the mountains of the Moon, and cradled in the ^ 

depths of their mighty caverns, tearing its way through moun- ■ 

tain barriers and granite rocks, dashing down cataracts, lashed | 

into foam by narrows and rapids, it at last reaches the calmer, . 
quiet life of the beautiful plain, and goes singing onward amid 

perpetual sunshine, scattering its blessings with a lavish hand, i 

until it is sepulchered in its great ocean tomb. ^ 

E2:vpt is a desert-oirt land, and rana^es of barren motintaius i 

lock it in. On the east are the deserts of Arabia. South and j 

west the vast expanse of the Lybian sands stretch away into \ 

the unknown interior of Africa. These immense wastes of j 

sandy plains and rocky hills gather no clouds of moisture to ; 
distill in fertilizing showers on the valleys of Egypt. Rain 



WONDEES OF THE NILE. 



91 



sometimes falls in the immediate vicinity of the Mediterranean, 
but very seldom in other parts of the land. During the spring 
and early summer season, the region of country south of 17°, 
about the sources of the Xile, are inundated with copious rains. 
These waters are collected bv the river and brous^ht down as 
by a mighty aqueduct to the plains below. Thus the fertility 
of Egypt is made to depend entirely upon the waters of the 
!N"ile. What a strange provision the beneficent Creator has 
thus made for them ! This result is accomplished by its 

ANNUAL OVERFLOW. 

The rise of the waters begin the latter part of June, or just 
about the time of the summer solstice. The first indication is 
a change in the appearance of the waters — they become red 
and turbid. About the middle of July they burst the barrier 
of shore and banks, and spread themselves over the land, till 
the country looks like a great inland sea, dotted here and there 
by villages and towns. The latter part of September, the 
waters begin to subside, and by the end of ^^ovember the banks 
hold in check the swollen stream. The rise is about four 
inches a day, and the decline at about the same rate. These 
annual inundations leave a rich alluvial deposit, brought down 
from the upper country, and from the fertile plains of Abys- 
sinia. The great heat of the climate, operating on these fertil- 
izing deposits, produces a most luxuriant vegetation. 

It is said a rise of twenty-four feet in the time of Herodotus, 
was considered sufficient to secure a fruitful season. The con- 
tinual deposit of the slime and mud for thousands of years has 
considerably elevated the soil. A rise of thirty-three feet is 
now said to be necessary to sufficiently inundate the land. In 
1829, a rise of nearly forty feet produced great destruction 
among the villages, both of lives and property. Passing 
through this country as the waters are subsiding, you may still 
have a striking illustration of 

A BEAUTIFUL PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE. 

Upon a shallow pond of thick, muddy water, you may see a 
husbandman casting handful after handful of seed. ''What a 



92 



EGYPT SINAI. 



waste ! " you say. " Better feed it to his lean and famishing 
cattle." Wait and see. The scattered seed mingles with the 
dark, turbid waters, settles down, and is buried in the new, 
rich strata of earth, and — " is lost ! " 'No, no ! The warm sun 
shines upon it; it shoots up into healthy, vigorous growth, and 
by and by the laborer comes with his sickle, and as he fills his 
bosom with the golden sheaves, rejoicing in the abundance of 
the harvest, he sings, " Cast thy bread upon the waters, and 
thou shalt find it after many days." 

But we must take our leave of the E"ile. Flow on, thou 
wonderful and majestic stream! Thyself the same, what 
changes thou hast seen ! Thebes, with its hundred gates, and 
Memphis, with its temples and monuments, have perished upon 
thy banks. Thou hast seen thy country the prey of Ethiopian 
and Persian, Macedonian and Koman, Saracen and Turk. 
Thou hast been witness of the afflictions of Israel, and of the as- 
tounding miracles of their deliverance. Stil], calm and undis- 
turbed, thy waters roll, and thou art now the witness how the 
curse has settled down upon thy land. Degeneration has crept 
over it, darkness has overshadowed it, and God has re-written 
the sentence recorded in His Great Book by the hand of Eze- 
kiel : " It shall be the basest of kingdoms, neither shall it exalt 
itself any more among the nations. Her power shall come 
down. * ^ I will make the land waste and all that is 
therein, by the hand of strangers. I the Lord have spoken it." 



PYRAMIDS IN THE DISTANCE. 



93 



CHAPTER VII. 

First View op the Pyramids — Arrival at Grand Cairo — 
Sights and Scenes of the City. 

Our fiery steed bounds onward — over the l^ile we go on a 
beautiful stone bridge, the workmanship of which is not ex- 
celled in any part of the world. E"ow we are straining our 
eyes to catch a first glimpse of the minarets of Cairo. See 1 
There they are ; and the walls and higher portions of the cita- 
del can be distinguished. 'Now turn your eye to the right, and 
look away across the plain yonder. Do you see two or three 
dark looking objects rising up directly from the immense pla- 
teau ? They are the pyramids ! The pyramids ! "What, those 
great haystacks? " Precisely such would be the first impression 
upon almost every mind. Unconscious of the great distance 
that intervenes, some fifteen to twenty miles, you see these 
mighty wonders of the world, Cheops and Cephrenes, looking 
like nothing else but a couple of great haystacks in a farmer's 
meadow in a hazy autumn day. But distance here lends no 
enchantment to the view. These impressions of diminutive- 
ness will all be dissipated when we come to stand by their side, 
or climb their lofty summits. 

arrival at CAIRO. 

At 4 o'clock p. M. we came to a halt in the depot of Grand 
Cairo. I knew my hotel, but had some anxieties as to how I 
should reach it, for I dreaded to run the gauntlet of saucy don- 
key boys and importunate porters. ITerving myself for a spe- 
cial act in some lively scene, I landed on the platform, amid the 
strangest crowd of human beings I had ever seen congregated. 
There was the dignified Turkish official, with his great loose 
sleeves and flowing robes, gold-hilted sword and turbaned head ; 



94 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



half-naked donkey boys : loathsome looking beggars ; wretched 
women and squalid children. I had scarcely time to glance at 
the odd looking crowd about me, when a man in English cos- 
tume and genuine English accent addressed me: "Shepherd's 
hotel, sir?" " Yes, sir." "All right, omnibus just here: take 
you right up, sir." In ten minutes I was snugly housed in a 
good hotel, with European fixtures and comforts all about me. 
The house I found to be entirely under English management, 
and much better kept than the one I have described at Alexan- 
dria. It is a spacious house, built in oriental style, with a large 
open court and garden in the centre ; the terms, two doUars and 
fifty cents a day for room, board, lodging, lights, etc. 

On being ushered into the dining-room, I was surprised to 
find myself in the company of from fifty to sixty English and 
American ladies and gentlemen. The table was set in home- 
like style ; both it and the victuals betokened the abode of civ- 
ilization. Eamiliar looking countenances were about me, a fa- 
miliar language was spoken, and had it not been for the long- 
robed, swarthy-faced, turban-headed waiters, the Arabic words 
they exchanged, and the occasional call, Achmed! Hassan! 
Mohammed! there would have been nothing to remind me 
that I was in the Orient. 

THE COMPANY I SAW THERE. 

At one end of the table was a party of gentlemen and ladies, 
ten in number, from 'New York, just returned from a voyage 
up the Mle ; ' on the opposite side of the table was a party of 
military gentlemen, from the United States ship -of- war Susque- 
hanna, then lying in the harbor at Alexandria. By my side 
was an American gentleman, just returned from an excursion 
up the Nile. The United States Vice Consul at Alexandria, 
wishing to make the voyage, the Viceroy had kindly placed at 
his disposal a small steamer he keeps upon these waters, in 
which the journey was performed, my infonnant acting as the 
consul's secretary. He informed me there were at the present 
time at least sixty boats with pleasure parties up the Xile, of 
which one half at least were Americans. But these pleasure 
excursions are not always attended with cloudless skies. Afflic- 



AFFLICTIVE EVENTS. 



95 



tions and sorrows steal along life's rosiest paths. At the falls 
above Thebes, a young gentleman from an English party in- 
sisted upon swimming the rapids, a feat sometimes performed 
by the Arabs. All warnings were in vain, and even the at- 
tempt of the Arabs to hold him was resisted; he leaped in, 
and almost instantly disappeared in the foaming waters. When 
the consul's boat left, they had been three days in an unsuc- 
cessful search for the body. A young lady of another party 
was taken sick and died at Thebes. The warmth of the cli- 
mate compelled them to bur}^ her there, and the sorrow-stricken 
parents laid the loved form under the shadow of those gigantic 
ruins to rest amid their solitude and silence. 

Here also I met with a gentleman from Philadelphia, just ar- 
rived from Palestine, who gave me much valuable information 
to aid me in my contemplated tour. He also gave me a graphic 
account of the robbery of himself and friend by the Moabite 
Arabs, in his excursion to Jordan and the Dead Sea. They did 
not fare quite as roughly as the man in the parable, for they 
were not wounded and left half dead, but they were stripped 
of their raiment, and left to make the best of their way back to 
Jerusalem. I learned from this that eighteen hundred years 
have not materially improved the road from Jerusalem to Jeri- 
cho, and I was admonished to be cautious when I made my visit 
to those localities. I was surprised to find so many English 
and American travelers here, and at once felt myself quite at 
home. A night's rest and we will take a walk about the place. 

THE HISTORY OF THE CITY. 

February Iblh The land I left is now fast bound in the icy 
fetters of winter. There the biting frosts, driving sleets and 
drifting snows rule the changing year; here the glory and 
beauty of summer are on the landscape. The sun is shining in 
the heavens, and the birds are filling the groves with their 
strange enchanting music. "We were to have a walk about the 
streets of Grand Cairo. 

This is not one of the ancient cities of the land. Hoary 
with age it would indeed be, by the side of our fresh American 
towns, but by the side of Karnac, Thebes and Memphis, it is a 



96 



EGYPT A-RD SI^TAI. 



mere child ; and in one sense, these old towns are its mother, 
for thej^ have poured in liberal contributions from their ruins 
to aid in its erection. It was founded by Aboo Tummin, a vic- 
torious conqueror, who invaded Egypt from Tunis about A. D. 
970. It was called Misr El Kahira (victorious), which name, it 
is said, the Italians corrupted into Cairo. The city is of an ir- 
regular form, about two miles in length, and a little more than 
one in breadth, and is now surrounded by a substantial stone 
wall, built by Saladin. The population is estimated at about 
three hundred thousand. "But how," you ask, "can such a 
number find a home on so small a territory?" Come here and 
see how they live — how narrow their streets are — how closely 
their houses are packed together — how many of them live in 
the streets. What a place it would be — has been — for plague 
and pestilence to hold a carnival ! Take the road along this 
shady avenue. This is 

THE EZBEKIEH, 

A public square, or city park, and is to Cairo what the 
Champs Elysees is to Paris. It is a beautiful plat of ground, 
checkered with walks, and covered with ornamental trees. Here 
citizens of all classes congregate beneath the inviting shade; 
here are numerous booths, stalls and drinking-houses, and every 
evening bands of music regale the listening ear. On the west 
of this park is the palace of the late Mohammed Bey, in the 
garden of which the unfortunate Kleber was assassinated; on 
another side of it are the houses of the Copt quarter, while 
here and there the office of a consul or the front of a large 
hotel is seen. 

THE CLIMATE OF EGYPT. 

They have but two seasons, spring, corresponding to our win- 
ter, and summer, lasting from April to IsTovember. During the 
summer season, they have a beautiful, clear sky, but the weath- 
er is often so very oppressive they are compelled to resort to 
every artifice to protect themselves from the scorching sun. 
No country in the world presents a more salubrious climate 
than Egypt during these spring months. Week after week. 



A SALUBEIOUS CLIMATE. 



97 



days come and go, bringing a clear, cloudless sky and joyous 
sunshine. The atmosphere is dry, the nights cool and invigor- 
ating. If you wish to leave your home for an excursion, 
you have no fear of being drenched in a shower, and the only 
use you have for an umbrella is to screen you from the rays of 
the midday sun. Thus a large portion of the year is undescrib- 
ably pleasant. The evenings are enchanting. There is a sin- 
gular depth and hardness in the clear, blue sky that stretches 
above you. The moon looks down from those ethereal depths 
with unvailed splendor, robing the landscape with a bright and 
silvery whiteness. Planets and constellations walk the sky in 
dignity and majesty, looking out from their deep hiding places 
like radiant gems of beauty and glory. 'No wonder the ancient 
Egyptians were astronomers. They would have watched the 
stars from the very love of looking into those enchanting blue 
depths. But here we are in the 

STREETS OF THE CITY. 

Cairo is a pure Arab city. I am told they have no other city 
in the world so unmixed and free from foreign adulterations as 
this. The streets are numerous, narrow and crooked, there 
being but one in the business part of the town wide enough 
for carriages ; this is the Muskay, a great public thoroughfare, 
having the enormous width of thirty- two feet; many of the 
others are not more than eight or ten feet. The houses are of 
very peculiar construction; the upper stories projecting over 
the lower ones, and the large, prominent windows, many of 
them with elegant, carved lattice work, projecting still beyond 
the houses. Thus the windows of the upper stories are brought 
so near together you could easily step from one into the other. 
These narrow streets and projecting rooms serve to protect the 
inhabitants from the scorching rays of the sun during their 
long, cloudless summers. But here are 

THE BAZARS. 

These are the principal market places, where all sorts of mer- 
chandise is bought and sold. The word is purely Arabic, and 
denotes sale or exchange. Some of these seem to extend along 



98 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



whole streets, often covered over by laying poles across from 
house to house, and spreading mats or reeds upon them. Dif- 
ferent portions of the bazars are appropriated to different 
classes of goods. In one place, almonds, tigs, and various kinds 
of dried fruits ; in another, cotton and woolen goods, beds and 
cushions; here you will meet with a row of merchants who 
can furnish you silk cord, gold lace and kindred articles; there, 
otto of rose and various perfumes. 

These bazars are usually very busy places, and are thronged 
by multitudes of people. Through these narrow avenues there 
is constantly flowing a mixed and motley multitude. Here are 
camels, horses, donkeys, men, women and children, commingled 
in strange confusion, while the noise and bustle, the pushing 
and scrambling, the screaming and gesticulating, present a wild 
and unique scene that can be no where witnessed but in an 
Arabic city. 

VARIETY OF COSTUMES. 

Amid the strange medley and wild confusion we have de- 
scribed, may be seen a great variety of oriental costumes. 
Here turbaned heads predominate — the black one of the Copt, 
the dark blue one of the Jew, the green and white of the Mos- 
lem, are mingled in strange variety. There moves a lordly 
Turk, with all the dignity and gravity of his nation. There is 
the swarthy-skinned, half-naked fellah, and the grandee, with his 
rich, flowing robe of silk and lace — and one of these gentlemen, 
in full costume, certainly presents a very respectable appear- 
ance, though his dress is far more ornamental than convenient. 
There is a bare-faced, half-dressed, toil-worn, country-woman, 
with frightful looking tattooed lips, and by her side the digni- 
fied city matron, with long, close vail, all enveloped in an enor- 
mous loose robe of black silk. 'Now you meet an elegant 
Mamaluke dress of richly broidered cloth, and anon you are 
peering into the wild, black, flashing eyes of a genuine Bedawin 
just from the desert, with his head and shoulders enveloped in 
a strange costume, half bonnet and half turban. The Frank 
dress has become quite common here. I moved among these 




A GENTLEMAN IN FULL DRESS. 



HOW THEY EIDE IN CAIEO. 



101 



varied costumes with my gray frock coat and tall bell-crowned 
hat without exciting any special attention. 

THE STRANGE MODES OF RIDING 

At once attract the attention of the foreigner. Though the 
streets are so narrow as to prevent the use of carriages, no one 
goes on foot who can afford to ride. Occasionally, a horse may 
be seen, and now and then a camel, bearing a bedawin or a fel- 
lah, almost blocking up the street, and pushing the crowd right 
and left; but these large animals are not adapted to these 
crowded thoroughfares. And now may be seen the great con- 
venience of the little Egyptian donkey, so small that the mass 
of human beings have nothing to fear from him. He carries his 
burden of living freight or m-erchandise, picking his way 
through the crowd with all the gravity of a Turk, and precision 
of a mathematician. Sometimes dashing along under a full 
canter, you see him driving square against a woman with a 
huge water-pot upon her head, and just as you look to see the 
burden rolling in the dust from the force of the collision, the 
cautious littLe animal is sure to miss the mark, and slip by 
without even jostling the well poised burden. 

The riding of the grandees and Turkish officials is an impos- 
ing ceremony, and calculated to impress the vulgar rabble with 
the dignity of their station. On horseback, if it is a crowded 
street, but most commonly in the vicinity of the Ezbekieh, or 
suburbs of the town, where carriages can be used, the ceremo- 
nial parade takes place. 

Visitors here a few years ago gave ludicrous descriptious of 
the antique appearance of these carriages, which looked, it is 
said, as though they might have been imported from some mu- 
seum of English or French antiquities. If so, recent inter- 
course with European nations has done much to elevate the 
standard of taste and improve the style, for I saw some fine 
carriages, and more beautiful horses no one would wish to ride 
after ; but these are few in number, and usually belong to state 
dignitaries. 

When any of these officials wish to take an airing, or go 
out on business, dressed in robes of state, chariot and steeds 



102 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



ricUy caparisoned, a liveried driver hold of the reins, and a 
footman, with a long white skirt and great turban, behind, they 
go rolling along with the dignity of a king. But what is most 
peculiar, a runner in Turkish costume, bearing a sword or staff 
of state, runs constantly two or three rods before the carriage, 
calling out for the way to be cleared, and thrusting any careless 
loungers right and left as unceremoniously as though they were 
so many swine. It is astonishing what speed and power of en- 
durance these runners have, keeping their distance before the 
carriage even when the horses are in a fleet canter. The ladies 
usually ride the donkey ; the custom is to ride astride, and the 
ample folds of their long vails and loose robes almost hide the 
little animals from sight, as may be seen in the accompanying 
engraving. 

THE SLAVE MARKET 

"Was formerly a place of such novelty, and exhibited a varie- 
ty of such strange scenes, as to attract the attention of visitors. 
This market, thanks to the reign of a humane policy, no lon- 
ger exists. "Whatever may be thought of the importance and 
necessity of slavery in more civilized portions of the world, 
Egypt, dark and barbarous as it may be, has thought best to 
dispense with it. Said Pasha, the present Viceroy, put a stop 
to the unnatural traffic in human flesh, l^o more persons are 
sold into bondage, and a system of measures has been insti- 
tuted by which involuntary bondage will ultimately cease in 
the land. 

THINGS IN THE CITY. 

Cairo has a few substantial houses, well built, and compara- 
tively clean and comfortable ; but the most of the city is one 
vast mass of dirt and rubbish. The narrow streets we have 
described, are so crooked you can scarcely see ten rods in any 
direction. On these narrow, crooked streets, the shops and 
bazars are located. These shops are little dens or cubby holes 
in the sides of the buildings — ^little recesses, from four to eight 
feet deep, without windows; they are closed with a kind of fold- 
ing doors, occupying the whole front, which are thrown open 



■ ( 




I 



CUKIOUS CUSTOMS. 



105 



during trade hours, and here the occupants sit, sell, trade, work 
and carry on almost every conceivable kind of business. 

In one of these places you see a dry goods merchant, with 
all his stock stored in a little space not more than six or eight 
feet square. The floor is elevated one or two steps above the 
street, and the tradesman sits behind a little bench or counter, 
that serves also as a kind of barricade to keep him in and all 
others out. There you will see a blacksmith with his bellows, 
anvil and a whole kit of tools in about the same space, himself 
sitting cross-legged in the dirt, working away with as much 
complacency and contentment as though he were lord of a lo- 
comotive factory ; then a money-changer, with his little board 
of coin, a pair of scales to weigh his gold and silver, and an 
iron safe that nearly fills his whole room ; next a scribe, with 
his table, pen, ink and paper, ready to exercise his professional 
abilities on any contract his neighbors may call for. 

Of course, people are not expected to come into these shops. 
They stand at the open front, and all the business is done in 
the streets. Every one sits down; the merchant sits at his 
shop-board, the mechanic at his work. It would be too labo- 
rious a business for this indolent people to stand up. It is 
amusing to see what ingenuity they exercise in getting every 
thing — merchandise, tools and materials — within their reach, 
that they may not be under the necessity of changing their 
position. 

Besides the shop-merchants, large numbers of men, women 
and boys parade themselves along the narrow streets with 
baskets of dates, lemons, oranges and other kinds of fruit and 
vegetables. The swarming multitudes of the city seem to live 
almost entirely in the streets. The shops I have described, 
apparently form the outside or rear part of their dwellings. 
Passing in at some narrow opening, you will find an open court, 
around which the rooms of their dwelling-houses are arranged. 
These are sometimes large, airy and clean; but the greater 
part of their houses are mere mud walls of unburnt bricks, 
most of them two and three stories high, with flat roofs. The 
people are compelled to do almost entirely without boards or 
lumber of any kind. Their floors are stone or clay, and having 



106 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



no wooden ceilings for the protection of the walls, they are 
constantly crumbling and scattering their dirt every where, 
^^'or does this seem at all to discommode the people. The low- 
er or ground floor of their houses is seldom occupied. iTearly 
all the families live up stairs. The lower parts of the houses 
are given up to camels, donkeys, chickens, dogs and fleas. 

We have before spoken of the miserable mode of life among 
the villagers. The poor of this great metropolis seem to fare no 
better ; they sit in the dirt during the day, and lie down amid 
filth, dirt and fleas during the night. Egypt has many attrac- 
tions, in its fine climate, the fertility of its soil, and more than 
all, in its monuments and historic associations ; but the charac- 
ter of its inhabitants is the negative pole of the magnet, that 
repels rather than attracts. Strange, that this beautiful coun- 
try, so green and fertile, bringing forth almost spontaneously 
all that human nature can crave, should be given up to the 
possession of so miserable and worthless a race of people. But 
while absorbed in these strange sights and scenes, the attention 
is suddenly arrested by the sound of music. A crowd of peo- 
ple are approaching. Stand a few moments under the shelter 
of this doorway and you will see 

A MARRIAGE PROCESSION. 

The preliminaries, which are many, have all been arranged, 
the contract completed, the dower paid, and now they are con- 
ducting the bride with great pomp and ceremony to her future 
home, where the bridegroom is waiting for her. These proces- 
sions are difierently formed to suit the taste of the parties, and 
the wealth and display is graded by the ability of the parties 
to defray the expense. The bride is generally preceded by 
some of her married friends, who are enveloped from head to 
foot in the great black silk robe before described. She walks 
under a canopy of silk, generally of some bright, gay color, 
carried by four men, by means of a pole at each corner. It is 
completely closed up on three sides but open in front. It is 
said she is generally richly dressed, but her rich clothing and 
jewelry are all concealed, for she is completely covered from 
head to foot, generally with a great cashmere shawl, so that no 



SCENES IX CAIRO. 



107 



part of her person can be seen. Two female friends walk with 
her under the canopy, one upon each side, w^hile the procession 
is headed by a band of music — flutes, pipes, tambourines, and 
sometimes a kind of Arabic drum, beaten with the hands. The 
harmony of this music is terrible, and is sometimes accompa- 
nied by singing, clapping of hands, and various other strange 
demonstrations. Sometimes wrestlers and swordsmen go be- 
fore, and entertain the crowd with various gymnastic feats and 
mock battles. For the sake of display, the procession general- 
ly takes a circuitous route, traversing several prominent streets 
of the city. The bride wears a sort of paper crown, and if 
wealthy, a costly circlet of diamonds and gold may be seen 
over the cumbrous muffling of silk and cashmere that envel- 
ops her. Connected with these processions, may often be seen 
another pompous display. It is the celebration of the 

RITE OF CIRCUMCISION. 

Between the music and the bridal canopy, a richly capari- 
soned horse carries a small boy, most gaily bedecked with gold 
and silver tinsel and jewelry. His hair is elaborately plaited, 
and sparkles with golden coins and gems. He carries in one 
hand a richly embroidered handkerchief, which most of the 
time he holds to his face, while two male relatives walk one on 
each side to support him. Other members of the family and 
friends join in the procession. This display and parading of 
children in connection with marriage processions, is resorted to 
by poorer families, who have not the means of gratifying their 
pride by creating a sufficiently pompous procession in any other 
way. 

This rite of circumcision has continued in practice among all 
the Arab tribes since the days of their great progenitor, Abra- 
ham, from whom it was received. The law enjoining it was 
re-enacted by Mohammed, and is one of the indispensable cer- 
emonies of his religion. Children here are generally circum- 
cised at the age of about five or six years, and among the 
wealthy classes the performance of the rite is often attended 
by a splendid display of wealth and ceremony, little inferior to 
those of wedding occasions. 
7 



108 EGYPT AND SINAI. 

In these bridal processions, especially among the wealthy, 
many strange and often astonishiDg feats are performed. There 
seems to be a great desire, on the part of the family, to make 
the occasion a memorable and distinguished one; therefore, 
any one who can perform some extraordinary feat for the 
amusement of the spectators, is not only welcomed to the 
crowd, but is often rewarded with a handsome present. Lane 
mentions two noted incidents he says he had from eye wit- 
nesses : 

When the Seyyid Omar, chief of the descendants of the 
Prophet, made a marriage for his daughter, a young man walked 
in front of the procession, who had made an incision in his 
abdomen, and drawn out a portion of his intestines, which he 
carried before him on a silver tray. The procession over, he 
restored them to their proper place, and kept his bed many 
days before he recovered from this foolish and disgusting act. 
On the same occasion, another man ran a sword through his 
arm, for the amusement of a crowd of spectators. In this po- 
sition he left the sword for a long time, until several handl^er- 
chiefs were soaked in the blood. 

The same author was also an eye witness of a herculean task 
of a water-carrier, a common feat, and often witnessed. One 
of these water-carriers, for the sake of a present, and the fame 
he acquires, carries a water-skin filled with sand and water, of 
a greater weight and for a longer period than any one else will 
consent to do. This must be accomplished without ever laying 
down the load, or even sitting down, except in a crouchiug po- 
sition, with the burden still upon the back. In the case he wit- 
nessed, the carrier took up his burden, a skin of sand and water 
weighing about two hundred pounds, bore it the whole night, 
and all the ensuing day, before and during the procession, and 
did not lay it down until sunset of the second day — thus having 
borne it without intermission for twenty-four hours. 

These processions can be seen almost every day, and some- 
times two or three a day, in the streets of the city. Passing 
one on one occasion in the Ezbekieh, they halted near me, and 
I stepped close to them to witness the performance. A young 
man, stoutly built, and shabbily dressed, was the harlequin of the 



9 



I 



BUKIAL OF THE DEAD. 



Ill 



occasion. He threw himself into a sort of trance, eyes closed, 
and apparently indifferent to all about liim. In this condition 
he commenced a series of striking gymnastic exercises. Keep- 
ing time to the mnsic, he threw his arms, legs and body into all 
sorts of attitudes, sometimes ludicrous, and sometimes graceful. 
As he proceeded, the main part of the procession gathered in a 
circle about him, and watched his absurd gesticulations with 
the utmost apparent satisfaction. He detained the procession 
about fifteen minutes. The strange exhibition over, he was 
greeted with shouts of applause, and the procession moved on 
to find another performer. But now the scene changes ; 

A FUNERAL PROCESSION 

Comes treading closely upon the heels of the bridal throng, 
and the wailings of anguish succeed the songs of mirth. Thus 
changeful and varied are the scenes of life. The ceremonies 
connected with death and burial among the Egyptians, to us 
seem strange indeed. The victim must die with his face to- 
wards Mecca. While the death-rattle is yet in his throat, he is 
turned in that direction, and as the spirit takes its flight amid 
loud bursts of lamentation from wives and children, an attend- 
ant exclaims : Allah ! There is no strength nor power but 
in God. To God we belong, and to him we must return. God 
have mercy on him !" The shroud of the poor man is a piece 
or two of cotton cloth. Any color may be used but blue. 
Why this is interdicted in death, when it is so generally worn 
in life, I do not know. The colors generally used are white 
an.d green. 

The preliminaries completed, the solemn procession is formed. 
The corpse of a small child is often borne in a tray upon the 
head of a woman; older persons, upon the shoulders of two or 
more men, as may be necessar3^ The adornments of corpse, 
hearse and bearers vary, of course, according to wealth and po- 
sition; sometimes, in case of a rich man, three or four camels 
are marched at the head of the procession, laden with bread 
and water, to be distributed among the poor at the tomb. It 
is considered very meritorious to take part in a funeral proces- 
sion, and aid in carrying the bier. The most imposing part of 



112 



EGYPT AXD SIX A I. 



these ceremonies are the wild himentations that rend the air. 
The mourning of rehatives on such occasions may be heartfelt 
and sincere, for the ties of affection and kindred bind as strong- 
ly, and the lacerated heart of the bereft bleeds as freely in 
Moslem as in Christian lands, but the procession is generally 
accompanied by a number of professional wailing women, hired 
for the occasion. Sometimes you wiU hear in a low, deep mon- 
otone: "There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his 
prophet/' Then again these women may be seen wringing 
their hands, and with disheveled hair, shrieking at the top of 
their voices. To the stranger, there is something at first pecu- 
liarly solemn and impressive in these low chants and piercing 
wails. It, hovN^ever, soon becomes so monotonous, and has so 
much of the appearance of a mere mechanical performance, as 
to beget disgust. 

But we have walked and gazed till feet and eyes are weary. 
Let us return to our hotel, and rest ourselves under the shade 
of those great trees. Sit down here upon the terrace and look 
about you. There are a great variety of entertainments here, 
and now we are going to have 

A STRANGE SHOW. 

There comes a man with a tarboosh on his head, feet and 
legs bare, a ragged old sash binding his dirty shirt close around 
the waist, converting the loose folds of the bosom into a great 
pocket. What do you think he has got in there? He walks 
up with the air and assurance of a practiced performer, as much 
as to say, "Sir, I can show you a thing."* First, he pulls out a 
greasy, filthy-looking bag, unties the string that holds the 
mouth, thrusts in his hand and pulls otit a large knotted mass 
of living vipers. He rolls them over, and tumbles them round, 
as thouo'h thev were as soft to the touch and as harmless in 
their nature as a btmdle of velvet ribbons. Having displayed 
his ingentiity in entangling them still more, by winding their 
slimy bodies around each other, and tucking their venomous 
heads over, through and under, he tosses the writhing mass 
upon the ground. Each serpent form, with demon eyes and 
forked tongue, writhes and twists in horid evolutions to disen- 



A SEEPENT CHAKMER. 



113 



tangle himself from the gorclian mass ; and soon each separate 
viper is seen pushing his scaly form this way and that, to make 
his escape. 

The operator keeps his eye upon them, claps his bare foot 
upon one here, seizes another by the head there, and tosses 
them back into the ring, playing with them like a child with his 
toys. " Is that all ? " This is only the first act. With this brood 
of small serpents around him, he put his hand again into his 
bosom, and drew out — my blood curdled at the horrid sight — 
an enormous cobra capello, or hooded snake, four or five feet 
long, and cast him among the smaller ones. This is a serpent 
of the most venomous kind, found in all hot countries. He 
tossed the little reptiles on to him, and pinched his back to 
irritate him, when the enraged monster, after the fashion of his 
species, raised a foot or two of his body, so as to appear to 
stand erect, spread out and flattened the sides of his neck and 
head in the form of a hood, which gives him his name, and 
struck at his tormentor with all the fury of his venomous na- 
ture. Whether he had extracted his fangs, or was proof 
against them, I do not know. Having amused himself in this 
way for near half an hour, he tucked the slimy serpent back 
into his naked bosom, gathered up his little snakes, rolled and 
tied them into knots, thrust them into his bag, and laid them 
away by the side of their larger brother. ^' And had he done ? " 
Done with the snakes, but not with you. Do you think he was 
so kind-hearted as to spend that whole half hour merely for 
your gratification? Turning his tarboosh into a contribution 
box, he passes among the crowd with the air of one who had 
performed a valuable service, calling for a backsheesh. "And 
how," I hear one inquiring, ''did you enjoy the performance? " 
I sat through the first exhibition, partly from the strange char- 
acter of the show, and partly spell-bound by the horror it ex- 
cited. But I could never endure the sight again, and always 
afterwards left when the fellow came to repeat the perform- 
ance, as he was sure to do each succeeding day. 

It may not be one of the pleasantest things in the world to 
have snakes thus thrust upon one's attention, yet snakes have 
occupied a place in history from the time the serpent appeared 



114 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



ia the garden. The world is full of them, more varied and nu- 
merous than most persons suppose. There may be many a 
man who would turn with disgust from this serpent-charmer, 
that may stiU be harboring a more venomous brood in his own 
breast. Our Savior found himself in the midst of a generation 
of vipers. Better shun them all, whether they walk erect or 
crawl in the dust — those that tempt and those that bite — those 
that writhe and hiss, and those that lie in secret places — the 
serpent of discord, the worm of the still, and the worm that 
dieth not. 

But we have seen enough for to-day. To-morrow we will 
make an excursion to the pyramids. This will occupy the day, 
and the plan must be arranged to-uight. I remember how 
that dragoman cheated me at Alexandria; now I will turn 
dragoman myself, and see what I can do. Give me a donkey 
boy that can talk English, and I will manage all the rest. I 
stepped on to the platform of the hotel, and immediately had 
an audience of more than a dozen donkey boys. I engaged in 
conversation with them on the merits of their respective ani- 
mals, and soon selected my boy, who could not only talk very 
good English, but whose donkey he declared "hab English 
name; he name Lily Bob." ''And what will you ask to take 
me to the pyramids ? " " Two and sixpence, sah ; me go all day 
for two and sixpence." This was the common price, English 
money, not including the backsheesh. " Yery well ; be here in 
the morning at 8 o'clock." And now I hear you inquire : 
" What do you mean by 

''the backsheesh?" 

If you will only wait till you get among the Arabs, you will 
soon dearn. It is an omnipresent word, and ever rings in the 
ear of the traveler, from his first landing in Egypt till his final 
leave of Syria. It means a gift or gratuity, something over 
and above one's just deserts. When one has performed a ser- 
vice for you, if he has done it faithfully and well, he not only 
expects the compensation agreed upon, but he also expects a 
backsheesh, or a small gratuity, by way of present. Servants 
and laborers all look for it ; scores of loungers and hangers-on 



MEANING OF BACKSHEESH. 



115 



are constantly watching for an opportunity to lift a finger for 
you, that they may claim a backsheesh; multitudes of beggars 
swarm around you continually, supplicating for a backsheesh; 
abject looking men and women, in supplicating tones, crave it; 
children run after you and clamor for it. I had often heard 
before I left home, it was a common word in Egypt and Syria, 
but I had formed no conception of the immensity of its use. 
All travelers of all tribes and tongues hear it and learn it, and 
it will become incorporated into every living language. 

Our plan for to-morrow is formed, but now an unexpected 
obstacle arises. A party of English and Americans have just 
come in, in great excitement, with a frightful account of their 
treatment by the Arabs in charge of the pyramids, representing 
them as a rapacious, mercenary set, ready to extort every possi- 
ble farthing from the visitor. They had a quarrel with them 
on account of the enormous backsheesh demanded; one of them 
had struck an Arab with his walking-stick, and it was with dif- 
ficulty, according to their own account, they had escaped from 
their insolent usage. Here was a perplexity. Is it safe for me 
to venture, alone and unprotected, among these lawless men? 
It is eight or nine miles distant, upon the borders of the desert, 
far away from the protection of civil authority — shall I go? 
I am much at a loss to know what to do. I will retire and 
sleep over it, and see what the morrow will bring forth. 



116 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Visit to the Great Pyramid of Cheops — Tee Sphynx — Inci- 
dents AND KeFLECTIONS. 

February Ibth. The morning dawned bright and beautiful, 
as all the mornings of this uniform spring climate do. The 
perplexing question of last evening was still unsettled. Shall 
I go to the pyramids ? I debated with myself the question, for 
I was inclined to go. Shall I take my revolver along to 
defend myself if I am threatened?" 0, no ! I have no idea of 
shooting a man.. ^'But, then," something whispered, '4f it be- 
comes necessary, you might just frighten him a little." ''But, 
if I have arms," said I, ''I might, in a moment of excite- 
ment, do what calm reflection would condemn, and, perhaps, 
what I might ever after regret." ''"Well, then," the same voice 
whispered, " take your unloaded revolver, with only caps, to 
make a show of defense." " And then I should be more ready 
to point it at an opponent, and, seeing what he would suppose 
a deadly weapon at his breast, he might be instigated to some 
desperate act himself." Such was the colloquy that, with the 
lightning track of thought, weot through my mind. Peace 
principles triumphed. " I'll go the pyramids," said I, '' go 
alone, go unarmed, trusting to common sense, the common 
generous impulses of the human heart, a common overruling 
Providence, and a — liberal backsheesh to help me through." 
Hassan ! bring up the donkey." And now for 

THE TEICKS OF A DONKEY BOY. 

Hassan was older than most boys of his profession, full 
grown, well built, of fine countenance, light complexioned, but 
with a clear, deep, snaky looking eye. Moreover, he was 
learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, so far, at least, as 



OLD THINGS AND PLACES. 117 

tricks upon travelers are concerned. My nimble beast was 
soon upon a full canter, when looking over my shoulder, I saw 
Hassan, instead of running behind me with his driving stick, 
coming astride of a second donkey. What ! Hassan, are you 
going to take a donkey too ? " Yes, misser, long way — too 
long for all walk." "Do you expect me to pay for your 
donkey ? " " Why," hesitating, and looking somewhat con- 
fused, "gemmen he pay both two donkeys." "I agreed to 
give you a half crown and sixpence backsheesh to take me 
there and back. That is all you will get. You may take as 
many donkeys as you please." This decision, and the firmness 
with which it was uttered, fell like a wet blanket upon the fire 
of his zeal. Hallooing to one of his companions, he surren- 
dered his donkey, and in sulky mood followed on behind me. 

Three miles brought us to Old Cairo, an old town upon the 
banks of the Mle, founded upon the site of the old Egyptian 
Babylon. It is two or three hundred years older than Grand 
Cairo. The new city absorbed its business, and it is now a 
miserable, dirty, dilapidated place, perishing under the shadow 
of its great rival. Still there are some antique places here, 
that well repay a visit. Here are the ruins of the old Eoman 
fortress, besieged and taken by the Moslem invaders. The 
remains of the solid walls and great towers are yet standing, 
and in one place, under a pediment, may still be seen the 
Roman eagle. This fortress has now become a Christian village, 
and is dedicated to St. George, the patron saint of the Copts. 

There are also three convents here. One is occupied by the 
Catholic Armenians and S3anan Maronites, another by the 
Copts, a third by the Greeks. In this Greek convent you are 
shown a room in which it is said the Virgin and the child 
Jesus had their abode during their sojurn in Egypt ! Here, 
too, are some very ancient structures, said to have been built 
by Joseph, and used for treasure houses, in which corn was 
stored for the days of famine ! In the old Roman fortress 
alluded to, in an upper chamber over one of the towers, is an 
ancient Christian record, sculptured on wood, in the time of 
Diocletian. It is a well preserved and curious device. The 
upper part of the frieze has a Greek inscription, and below 



118 EGYPT AND SINAI. 

is a representation of the Deity sitting on a globe, supported 
by two angels ; on either side of which is a procession of six 
figures, evidently the twelve apostles. 

J ust upon the opposite bank lies Gizeh, from which these 
pyramids are named, with a ferry at the upper end of the 
town. As we approached this, Hassan, who had been quite 
silent during our three miles' ride, again approached me. " Got 
change to pay de boat ^ " " Yes, how much will it be? " Ee- 
ducing English currency to federal money, as I shall generally 
do — " Fifty cents, sah. Gib you me de money ; I make de 
bargain for de boat ; I know 'em best." " Fifty cents ! It 
costs no fifty cents to get ferried over the Mle." " How much 
you pay ? " Don't know," said I. "All de gemmen he pay 
fifty." I don't believe a word of it," said I. Hassan walked 
a few rods in silence. " You gib me twenty-fiv-fe cents I make 
de bargain for boat." " I shall not pay the half of twenty-five, 
and I choose to make my own bargains." The deceitful rascal 
knew that I could not understand Arabic, and he had calcu- 
lated upon making a few dimes out of me by the ferriage. 

By this time we were on the river bank. ITo skill of words 
could portray the scene that ensued. It is a great thorough- 
fare, and hundreds of people throng the landing place ; numer- 
ous boats of all sizes were waiting for freight; donkeys and 
their riders, camels with their huge burdens, horses and horse- 
men, ragged men and women, and squalling, dirty children, 
were mingled together on the shore, or crowded into the open, 
antique looking boats, in close proximity and strange confusion. 

Hassan, sulky from the disappointment of making forty 
cents out of me on the ferriage, seemed disposed to take me at 
my word, and leave me to make my own bargain. We were 
soon surrounded by a wall of saucy, insolent boatmen, who 
seemed disposed to take us by force. One seized the little 
donkey, and commenced dragging him towards his boat; 
another pulled at Hassan, and others turned their attention to 
me. I saw they were governed by no law, and in the absence 
of police regulations, I was compelled to assume command. 
Using my umbrella for a weapon, I cleared a space about 
myself and donkey, and with threatening attitude, kept them at 



KEFLECIIONS ON THE NILE, 



119 



a respectful distance. Glancing upon the crowd, I selected one 
whose appearance pleased me, took out an English sixpence, 
held it up to him and pointed to his boat. He seized the 
money, then laid hold of the donkey and beckoned us forward, 
and I supposed the contest was ended. Hassan now for the 
first time interfered, and declared the man's boat was too small 
to take donkey in. " He fall in de river, he do." I believed 
he was lying to me, for I saw him exchanging words with 
another boatman, and mistrusted a connivance for some selfish 
purpose. 

Now came another contest. The man with the larger boat 
seized the arm of the one w^ho still had the money in his 
fingers, and held him like a vice. He clung to the money with 
a deathly grasp, and refused to give it up. Again I had to 
assume a tone of authority and defiance. Seizing the obstinate 
fellow with one hand, I raised my umbrella in warlike attitude 
over his head with the other, and demanded the coin. The 
fellow, seeing my hostile attitude, yielded without a motion of 
resistance. Boatman number two, with an air of triumph, 
pocketed the change, literally pushed and lifted Lily Bob into 
his boat, and we were. 

AFLOAT UPON THE NILE. 

I at once forgot the perplexities of bargaining with boatmen, 
in the strange sensations that came over me. The river here is 
broad and shallow. Our boatman spread his rude lateen sail, 
that he might take advantage of both wind and current, and as 
the waters came rippling against our boat, they seemed speak- 
ing to me of the strange events of by-gone days. And this 
particular place, of all others, seemed calculated to awaken 
remembrances of the past. As we gained the current of the 
river, our boat floated directly down upon Roda, a beautiful 
little island, whose grassy banks and shady groves have long 
been the resort of pleasure parties from Cairo. On this island 
stands the celebrated Mlometer. This is a square room or 
chamber, built of stone, in the centre of which is a graduated 
stone pillar. By a scale upon this pillar, the daily rise of the 
Kile is ascertained. This is proclaimed every day during the 



120 



EGYPT AITD SI]S"AI. 



inundation, in the streets of Cairo, by four criers, specially ap- 
pointed for tli9 purpose. The pillar contains a scale of twenty- 
four cubits of twenty-one and seven-eighteenth inches each. 
Twenty cubits is a good rise, and the promise of an abundant 
harvest; twenty-four would be destructive to life and property. 
Xo wonder, then, that the rise of these waters is watched with 
intense interest by the inhabitants. By this island, also, 
tradition fixes the j)lace of the exposure of 

THE INFANT MOSES. 

This, to me, was of more interest than all the rest, and the 
story of this great leader and law-giver in Israel was fresh in 
my mind. "W^ith what crushing weight that edict of an arbi- 
trary and persecuting ruler, that doomed their children to 
death, must have fallen upon the hearts of the mothers in 
Israel! "What an hour of deep, agonizing trial was that, 
when a daughter of Levi, under the pressure of that cruel 
decree, took an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime 
and pitch, and put the child therein, and laid it in the flags by 
the river's brink! How vividly the picture passed before my 
mind, as I thought I could see the Hebrew mother, swayed by 
the conflicting emotions of hope and fear, wrestling with God, 
in the earnest struggle of a holy faith, that he would open a 
way for the salvation of her child ! And I almost fancied I 
caught glimpses of that faithful sister Miriam, half concealed 
among the shrubbery of the bank, as she watched with anxipus 
sohcitude the fate of her infant brother ! But an eye that 
watched with more untiring vigilance, and a hand that could 
direct a mother's plans and a prince's steps, was there I It 
was a wonderful beginning of a strange and eventful life ! Is 
it possible^ I mused, that I am standing so near the scene of 
these remarkable events? Are these the waters that went 
ripphng by the ark of the infant Moses, and over which he 
afterwards stretched his wonder-working rod, transforming 
them into a terrific torrent of blood? How plainly the hand 
of God was seen in these wonderful events ! 

'Now we are approaching the opposite shore. I watched the 
boatman in the collection of his tolls, for I was curious to know 



AKAB CHARACTERISTICS. 



121 



how mucli tlie natives paid — probably not more than one cent : 
bat Frank travelers are free plunder, and every one that comes 
in contact with them expects to make it pay. And yet these 
natives, so rude and lawless, so vehement in language and vio- 
lent in gesticulation, are not a quarrelsome people. A single 
threatening motion from the hand of a Frank will overawe a 
dozen of them, and even if they get a blow from a superior, 
they will seldom resent it. They have far more knavery than 
courage, while deceit and falsehood are bred in the warp and 
woven in with the very filling of their nature. Landing from 
the boat, we were in Gizeh, an old, dilapidated town, the mis- 
erable wreck of what it once was. In the days of the Mama- 
lukes, it was fortified and adorned with mosques ; but fortifica- 
tions and mosques are now crumbling heaps of dirt and stones. 
Here, if the traveler chooses, he can visit 

THE RENOWNED CHICKEN OVENS. 

From the time of the Pharaohs, even down to the present, 
Egypt has been noted for the multitude of chickens hatched by ar- 
tificial heat. The eggs are stowed by thousands into great ovens ; 
the heat graduated to a degree corresponding to the warmth of 
the parent hen, and in due time, though eggs are close things, the 
chickens do come out. This artificial mode of producing chick- 
ens seems to be a purely Egyptian notion. The business is 
principally conducted by the Copts, and is still carried on in 
both Upper and Lower Egypt, the proprietors paying a tax to 
the government for the privilege. The eggs are placed in the 
large ovens upon mats or straw, tier above tier. A building 
containing from twelve to twenty-four ovens is called a maamal, 
and receives at one time about one hundred and fifty thousand 
eggs. In 1831, an official report for the government gave, in 
Lower Egypt alone, one hundred and five of these establish- 
ments, using up annually over nineteen millions of eggs, of 
which about six millions were spoiled, and from the balance 
about thirteen millions of chickens produced ! Thus saving more 
than a million and a half of hens the arduous task of three 
weeks' patient, self-denying incubation, and relieving them from 



122 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



more than twice tliat amount of time in the anxious, toilsome 
labor of rearing their broods ! 

Passing along these streets, large quantities of oranges, dates 
and other fruits, with bread and vegetables, were exposed for 
sale. I had taken a lunch for myself, intending to dine on the . 
top of Cheops. "Hassan," said I, "did you bring any thing 
along to eat ? " " l^o, sah." Handing him three piasters, " Here, 
buy me three or four oranges, and get some bread and oranges 
for yourself." He took the money, looked at it a moment, and 
with a contemptuous toss of the head pushed it back towards 
me: "Shaw! couldn't buy any thing with dat." "Very well," 
said I, carelessly ; " no matter," and put it back into my pocket. 
Again he looked disappointed. I knew it was twice as much 
as was necessary, but as he expected to pocket all the change, 
he was calculating I would increase the amount. 

"We were passing the last of the market stands, and a few 
minutes would end the chance of making a purchase. Hassan 
sidled up to me, and in a subdued tone said: "Please, sah, gib 
de money, I buy de oranges." I handed him a single piaster. 
He looked at it contemptuously, turned it in his hand, and was 
about to speak. " That or nothing," said I, sternly. He started 
for a stand, brought me four oranges, tucked four into his- own 
bosom, bought bread enough for his dinner, and I saw the 
huckster hand him back several jDaras change. The truth is, 
these fellows are so much accustomed to make something from 
travelers at every turn and every trade, their rapacity is never 
satisfied. 

We had now a ride of four or five miles to make across the 
open plain, the huge pyramids all the time in sight, but still so 
far distant one could form no just conception of their size. In- 
deed, the general impression of travelers, as they approach them, 
at first, is one of disappointment, but they should suspend their 
j udgment till they have ascended their rugged sides. "We passed 
two or three Arab villages on our way. The same appearance 
of indolence and haggard poverty is every where apparent. 
Lazy, lounging men, lying about upon the ground; uncouth 
females, sitting in graceless attitudes, their little ones rolling in 
the dirt about them. A dozen wolfish dogs, with bristled hair 



APPKOACH TO THE PYRAMIDS. 123 



and savage howl, \^ere sure to herald our approach, Avhile a troop 
of half-naked boys and girls would run after us, calling out in 
boisterous tones, How-ad-ge (traveler), how-ad-ge, backsheesh, 
backsheesh ! 

THE DONKEY BOY AGAIN. 

As we neared the place, the persevering Hassan made an- 
other attempt to sponge something out of me, by the most 
solemn assurances that he understood dealing with the Arabs 
at the pyramids, and if I would give him the money he could 
make an advantageous bargain with them. After the unsuc- 
cessful attempts of the boy at the ferry and the buying of 
the oranges, I admired both his perseverance and his impu- 
dence, and though I thought they deserved a reward, I re- 
pulsed him rather rudely, telling him I chose to make my 
own bargains. 

"We now come to the boundary line, where the rich vegetation 
of the valley and the barren, changing sands of the desert, side 
by side, keep up a continual warfare. So marked was the line, 
it was but a step from one to the other. The gray forms of 
those great sepulchral monuments now lay just before us. 
Their huge proportions seemed rapidly to increase as we neared 
them. At a distance, they appear perfectly smooth and pointed 
at the top ; as you approach them, they assume a more ragged 
outline, and the top of the largest one appears a little flattened. 
They stand upon a rocky eminence, their base elevated about 
one hundred and fifty feet above the plain, just at the foot of 
the range of hills, behind which lies the vast ocean of sands 
constituting the great Lybian desert. 

We had forty or fifty rods of the desert to pass. My little 
donkey sank to his fetlocks in the sand, and moved with so 
much difficulty I dismounted, gave the reins to Hassan, and 
walked on. ^' Please, sah, gemmen he always give donkey boy 
sixpence, for buy he grass for he donkey." I did n't believe a 
word of it, but having no disposition for a dispute about the 
small sum, I handed him a dime, though I knew a penny would 
buy all the grass he w^anted. He turned round, and walked 
back towards the luxuriant growth of vegetation we had passed. 



124 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



I glanced back occasionally, to see tlie result of his care for his 
donkey. He loitered till I was a few rods ahead, then turned 
and brought up his creature without a particle of the comforts, 
and put the money, as I supposed he would, into his exchequer, 
to increase the aggregate of his day's wages. The eventful 
ride was over, and I stood at 

THE BASE OF CHEOPS. 

Before we commence an examination of these wonders of the 
world, let us look a moment at their history. There are five 
groups of these pyramids, numbering in all about forty. They 
are all in middle Egypt, extending up and down the valley for 
eight or ten miles. Most of them are comparatively small, 
while a few of them have such gigantic proportions as to justly 
entitle them to a place among the wonders of the world. They 
all stand upon the brow of the hills opening back into the great 
Lybian desert. -The three most noted of these groups, are 
Dashoor, Sakkara and Gizeh, the ones before which we are 
now standing, i^'ear the pyramids of Sakkara are the 

IBIS MUMMY PITS. 

Here large numbers of these sacred birds have been most 
carefully preserved — embalmed, sepulchered and honored with 
religious, yet superstitious care and reverence. l!^"ear them 
are also mummies of snakes, sheep, oxen and other animals. 
These were gods of the ancient Egyptians, and having no im- 
mortality of life, the attempts of their votaries to perpetuate 
their existence after death have proved a signal failure, for most 
of the stone pots in which they have been so carefully ]Dlaced, 
on being opened, are found to contain only a handful of dust. 
Between the pyramids of Sakkara and Abooser is a great 

APIS CEMETERY. 

Here the embalmed bodies of their sacred bulls, after having 
received divine honors, were interred in great pomp and state. 
Here are long underground passages hewn in the rocks, on the 
sides of which are deep recesses, each containing a large gran- 
ite sarcophagus. These are nearly thirteen feet long, between 



TOMBS OF DEITIES. 



125 



seven and eight broad, and of proportionate bight. Here also 
were found inscriptions af&xed to the walls, containing an ac- 
count of the successive bulls, and the names of the kings in 
whose reigns they received divine honors. The remains of 
these gods have all been removed. 

Before leaving home, I saw in Dr. Abbot's museum of Egyp- 
tian antiquities in 'New York, the bodies of three of these 
''Apis Osiris" divinities. These are the only ones that have 
been removed from Egypt. They are large sized animals, in a 
recumbent posture, saturated with embalming spices, bound 
around the body, head and horns, with many folds of mummy 
cloth, the whole well secured with numerous coils of well pre- 
served rope. The ancient Egyptians honored these sacred 
bulls as an image of the soul of Osiris. When one died, the 
soul was supposed to migrate into the body of his successor. 
In looking upon these putrid, loathsome carcasses, I could but 
exclaim: "Is that a body in which a god might dwell?" I 
thought of what the Apostle Paul says of depraved men, who, 
professing to be wise, become fools, and " changed the glory of 
the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible 
man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts and creeping things." 
The most renowned of all these pyramidal structures are the 
ones now before us. 

THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH. 

They are three in number, one is quite small ; of the other 
two, one is called Cephrenes, the other Cheops, from the two 
kings by whom they are supposed to have been built. Cheops 
is the larger of the two, and to this one we will turn our atten- 
tion, making a description of one suffice for all the rest. Of its 
vast size, one does not at first, even when he stands by its side, 
form any adequate conception. Standing, as it does, upon its 
firm foundation of native limestone rock, amid the perpetual 
sterility of bleak and barren sands, without tree or house or 
hill with which to compare it, there is seen no standard by 
which to test its magnitude. The figures of its present dimen- 
sions are easily given : Its present base is, each side, 732 feet; 
perpendicular hight, 456 feet ; the angle of the sides is about 
8 



126 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



52°. But this is not its original size. The vandal hands of the 
Caliphs were laid upon it, the granite casement that constituted 
the smooth exterior torn off, and layer after layer of the huge 
limestone blocks removed to build the palaces and mosques of 
Grand Cairo. They seem to have quarried from it with as little 
reverence for its magnificence and antiquity as though it had 
been only a bed of native stone in the hill-side. Colonel How- 
ard Yyse makes an estimate of its former size and hight as 
follows : Original base, each side, 764 feet ; hight, 480 feet 9 
inches. It covered an area of about 571,536 square feet. The 
solid contents have been calculated 85,000,000 of cubic feet; and 
that there is space enough in this mass of masonry, were it de- 
voted to the purpose, for 3,700 rooms of the size of the king's 
chamber found within. At present, the base covers an area of 
nearly thirteen acres, formerly about thirteen and a half acres. 

Still one may read these figures again and again, and form no 
just conception of the immense magnitude of the structure. 
It is only when we begin to calculate and make comparison 
with other hights and structures, that we can at all appreciate 
the mountain mass of stone that lies before us. 

Let the farmer or any one who is accustomed to measure 
land, or estimate the size of lots, lay off in his mind a square 
piece of ground containing thirteen acres; and many a man 
who has thirteen acres thinks he has quite a farm. Let him 
imagine this great field all covered over with huge blocks of 
stone laid closely side by side. Then begin and pile layer upon 
layer, drawing in each successive tier a little, as he does his 
sheaves in finishing his grain stacks. On you go, piling them 
higher and higher, till you reach the tops of the tallest forest 
trees, and you have only, as it were, laid the foundation. Stone 
is added to stone — you have overtopped Bunker Hill Monu- 
ment — you have reached the hight of the gold- tipped spires 
of the tallest church steeples in our largest cities, and yet the 
altitude of your cloud-towering pile is not half completed ! 
Eighty feet makes a very tall tree, and yet six such trees stand- 
ing one upon the other would only measure the hight of this 
enormous structure as it was left by the hand of those who 
reared it ! 



A GIGANTIC LABOK. 



127 



Herodotus, who visited Egypt 455 B. C, gives us some ac- 
count of the herculean labor here performed. The stones were 
brought from the mountains on the opposite side of the valley 
of the Wile. The first work was a causeway or road over 
which these stones could be transported. Ten years, he says, 
one hundred thousand men were employed in this part of the 
work. After the building of the road came the leveling of the 
rocky hill, the cutting out of the subterranean chambers, and 
the elevation of the enormous masses of stone. This occupied 
three hundred and sixty thousand men twenty years longer ! 
The first layer of stones were easily put in their places. The 
second were elevated by the aid of machines, or derricks. Thus, 
as the hight of the mass progressed, there were a series of 
broad steps corresponding to the number of layers of stone. 
Thus these machines were planted along the ascent, and the 
stones elevated from step to step. The apex reached, and the 
last limestone layer of the pinnacle in its place, triangular 
blocks of granite were fitted into these successive series of steps, 
beginning at the top and working downwards, leaving con- 
stantly a smooth surface above the workmen as they descended. 

Such is the structure we have come to examine, and which 
now stands before us in all its huge proportions. What an im- 
mense labor ! What countless years of human toil ! What a 
story of crushing despotism and hard-handed slavish servitude ! 
But they were built, and here they stand, and here they have 
stood for thousands of years, defying the storms of the desert 
and the lightnings of heaven ; looking down in proud contempt 
upon the fiercer confiicts of human passion, as conquering na- 
tions have come to deluge with blood, and heap with carnage, 
those beautiful plains above which they lift their lofty heads ! 

MEETING WITH THE ARABS. 

I had scarcely taken a survey of the great structure, when at 
least a dozen sturdy Arabs, with loose trowsers and short robes, 
suddenly made their appearance. I gave them a friendly salu- 
tation, speaking in English, to which one of them, apparently 
for himself and company, responded. "Want to go up de 
pyramid?" said one of them, in very good English. "Well, I 



128 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



do n't know yet what I shall want." Take you up, take you 
inside, all round, good." "How much you ask?" said I. 
"He's de sheik," pointing to one of the best looking among 
the crowd, who stood erect, holding the folds of his old striped 
blanket about him with all the dignity of a Koman senator ; 
"he's de sheik, he make de bargains." I turned to him with a 
deferential air : " Have you charge of this place, sir ? " "I am 
sheik here, sir ; you want to go up to de top ? " " Don't know ; 
what you ask to take me up ? " "Five shillings" (one dollar 
and twenty-five cents). "Five shillings ! 'No, no ! too much, too 
much ! " " How much you tink ? " " Some who came here yes- 
terday only paid two shillings." " Dey berry bad men," said 
tbe sheik, shaking bis head. " We take em up, dey no pay us. 
Dey strike one my men. Berry bad men, berry bad." I ques- 
tioned him a little farther about their conduct, and was satisfied 
tiie visitors had themselves behaved very rudely, and refused to 
pay a fair compensation, and while they came home with such 
reports of the savage Arabs, I found they had left behind them 
no very high estimate of their gentility or generosity. iw 
"Five shillings," said I again, "is too much." "How much 
you tink?" said the sheik. Murray's guide-book says four 
shillings (one dollar) is enough. " All de gemmens pay five 
shillings. Dat is de price. "We hab all one price." "Yery 
well, you have a good looking set of men here. These all your 
men? " " Yes, all good, all help." " Good looking men," con- 
tinued I. "I think you mean to do right." I saw I was win- 
ning upon his good opinion. "All good," said the sheik. 
"Five shilHngs?" said I again. "Five shillings," said the 
sheik. "Five shillings and no backsheesh?'"' said I, inquiring- 
ly. "l!^o backsheesh," said the sheik. This was an important 
point. " Yery well, take me up, bring me doiun " — I was care- 
ful to put this in, for sometimes, if the bargain is made carelessly, 
they will take the traveler to the top, and then refuse to help 
him down without extra pay, saying they only agreed to take 
him up. " Take me up and bring me down, and take me inside 
and all around, and I will give five shillings, and no backsheesh.'"' 
" Tieb, tieb ! " said the sheik. " Tieb, tieb ! " responded the men. 
That is, good, good ! or, in Yankee phrase, all right ! " IN'ow, I 



CLIMB I KG THE PTEAMIDS. 



129 



want two men and no more to go with me." Sometimes three 
or four will hang around a traveler, and then clamor for a back- 
sheesh. " I want only two men, good ones," said I to the shiek. 
" All good, which you please ? " I glanced round the company, 
fixed my eye on two good natured looking fellows, one of whom 
had frequently put in some very good English while I was 
talkino: with the sheik. "I'll have that man and that one." 
" Tieb ! " And the two started out and led the way to the 
southeast corner of the structure, apparently pleased at being 
thus honored. And now for 

THE ASCENT OF CHEOPS. 

The removal of layer after layer of stones from the outside 
of the structure, of which we have before spoken, has reduced 
it to the condition of an immense stairway. In some places 
the stones have been taken out to a much greater depth than 
others, giving it a ragged and uneven appearance. These steps 
are from two to three feet high, corresponding to the thickness 
of the original layers of stone. Of these layers or tiers of stone 
there are two hundred and six. The ascent is not difficult, but 
quite fatiguing, especially if one attempts to hurry. Agile per- 
sons, accustomed to climbing, have been known to ascend to 
the top in eight to ten minutes, but the time usually occupied 
is from fifteen minutes to half an hour. My guides were anx- 
ious to impress me with the importance of their services, but I 
refused their hands and commenced the ascent alone, one run- 
ning before me, the other behind. I found it indeed a giant 
stairway. The strides were long and fatiguing. Having 
reached an ascent of fifty or sixty feet, and gained a broad plat- 
form in one corner of the structure, I stopped to rest. My 
guides were very communicative, and we chatted together in 
great glee. Another ascent of about the same distance, and 
another rest. I looked out at this hight upon the broad plain 
that stretched away before me; there was something exhilara- 
ting in the air, and in the scene, and I shouted with my Arab 
companions in boyish glee. By this time I was quite out of 
breath, and was glad to avail myself of the assistance of my 
swarthy companions. One took my right hand, the other my 



130 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



left, and stepping before me up the rocks, pulled me after them. 
On we went with great rapidity, they almost literally lifting 
me from step to step. 

AN ARAB SONG. 

As we got well under way, they broke out into a kind of a 
wild, extemporaneous song, a strange mixture of Arabic and 
English, highly complimentary and suggestive — the closing 
stanza winding up as follows : 

Ta ah, ya ah, ya a ha ! 
Away, away, and up we go ; 
American gentleman berry good man, 
Give us "backsheesh, ya ah ha I 
Yankee doodle dandy ! 

Thus up, and up, and up we went, occasionally stopping to 
rest, questioning and being questioned. I made quite free with 
my assistants, praised their skill and agility^ and they in turn 
had complimxcnts in broken English for America and American 
gentleman. On we wxnt, occasionally their song breaking out 
in wild animation, sometimes vrith the variation of 

" Jack and Gill went up the hill." 

I found they were quite well posted in American literature, 
and had I been an Englishman, I have no doubt but that they 
would have sung "God save the Queen'' with equal grace. I 
saw they were fully as anxious to please me as I was them, 
though our motives might have been very different; I was 
thinking of my personal safety, they, of the backsheesh. At 
last we were on the summit! A few moments rest and I began 
to look about me, pondering on the strangeness of my location, 
observing the magnitude of the stones, and the numerous 
names in many laoguages carved upon them. 

The barbarian Caliphs that laid their ruinous hands on this 
noble structure, and quarried from its capacious sides, have not 
spared even the pinnacle of the enormous edifice. From thirty 
to fifty feet of its top has been torn away, and you are sur- 
prised to find that what from the ground looked like a point 
high in the air, too small for a man to stand upon, is a broad 
base or platform, thirty-two feet across. I was surprised at 



ON THE TOP OF THE PYKAMIDS. 131 

the magnitude of the stones even at this great hight — two to 
three feet thick and several feet long. What an immense labor 
it must have been to elevate such masses of stone to such a vast 
distance from the ground ! 

REFLECTIONS UPON THE TOP OF CHEOPS. 

Once upon the summit, I gave myself up to the emotions and 
the enthusiasm the place was calculated to awaken and inspire. 
First, like Moses from the top of Pisgah, I took a survey of the 
land, that, like a great panorama, lay in its variety and beauty 
at my feet. There was the green valley of the Mle, stretching 
away up and down as far as the eye could reach, opening its 
fertile bosom to the beautiful heavens, welcoming the floods of 
golden sunlight that came streaming down from a cloudless 
sky. Along the line of the valley could be traced for many 
miles the majestic and wonderful river, winding, like a great 
serpent, its voluminous folds in strength and dignity as it rolled 
onward to its ocean home. Away yonder in the distance were 
the Arabian hills, skirting the barren desert that lay in bleak 
sterility beyond, i^earer by, the Mokuttam hills and the quar- 
ries of Masarah, from whence the mountain of stone upon 
which I was standing had been chiseled, and the eye could 
trace the long, laborious distance over which the great cause- 
way was built upon which these stones were transported. 
lI^Tearer by, an attractive spot upon the landscape, was the great 
city. Grand Cairo, its walls, its great, gray, towering citadel, its 
mosques and multitude of minarets. Around my feet, and 
away to the south and west, was the vast expanse of the Lybian 
desert, presenting in its sullen and gloomy sterility a striking 
contrast with the fertile valley that bloomed by its side. Then 
I turned and looked down upon the battle-field where Bona- 
parte, with thirty thousand men, met Murad Bey, where the 
memorable ^' Battle of the Pyramids " was fought, where Bo- 
naparte inspired his men with valor by pointing to these mon- 
uments, exclaiming : " Forty centuries are looking down upon 
you from those mighty structures ! " The thunder of the battle 
ceased, the smoke cleared away, thousands were left dead upon 
the field, and the triumphant Bonaparte camped within the 



132 



EGYPT A^s^D SI^^AI. 



walls of Cairo. I could scarce persuade myself that those 
green fields, now so smiling and beautiful^ had been the theatre 
of such scenes of carnage. 

Then History came and lifted the gates of memory, and 
opened long vistas through the winding and intricate mazes of 
the past. I saw the wandering tribes from Shinar emigrating 
to these fertile vales. Here, shut in by sea and desert, they 
could pursue their peaceful avocations. In their settled habit- 
ations, industry became a necessity, and of industry art and 
science were born. My imagination re-peopled their cities, re- 
built their ruined temples and altars, and I saw Egypt in her 
pomp and pride, splendor and glory. As I gazed, a change 
came over the vision of the valley, clouds gathered upon her 
glory, and beneath the devastating hand of ruin, her magnifi- 
cence and splendor faded away. Alas ! how changed, how faU- 
en I "Who cannot read upon her ruined cities, crumbling tem- 
ples and plundered tombs, the handwriting of God? Who 
cannot read, deeply traced in unmistakable lines upon all 
around him, the fulfillment of the ancient prophetic declara- 
tions : The sword shall come upon 'Egypt, and they shall take 
away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken 
down ; " " They also that uphold Egypt shall fall, and the pride 
of her power shall come down, ^ -^^ ^ and they shall be 
desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her 
cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted" ? Eze- 
kiel XXX. 

A BOTTLE BOY. 

My reflections were suddenly broken by a little, ragged urchin, 
a genuine sappling of Arab stock, who thrust an Egyptian pot- 
tery bottle into my face. "Water, sah? Water? 'Nile water, 
good water, sweet water. Got him right out de Mle." It was 
not the first time I had seen the little scamp. He started with 
us upon our ascent,, bottle in hand, and most persistently per- 
served in ofi"ering me water every time I stopped to take breath, 
though I repelled him several times with absolute rudeness. It 
was certainly kind of the little barbarian thus to remember me; 
though I could not resist the impression that he was thinking 



A TKAVELER'S KEGISTEE. 



133 



not so miTch of my comfort as of a backsheesh. I was not 
thirsty, but his interruption had the effect to recall my wander- 
ing thoughts and arouse me to the necessity of finishing my 
errand. I realized the strangeness of my position, yet I had 
made friends with my swarthy attendants, and felt quite at ease 
with them. 

Cheops is a traveler's register, and many a visitor has inscribed 
his name upon the summit. The mania for this kind of im- 
mortality seems not to have been confined to actual visitors. 
When Chateaubriand was in Egypt in 1806, not being able to 
visit the pyramids, he says : " I requested M. Caffe, on the first 
opportunity, to inscribe my name, according to custom, on these 
prodigious tombs ; for I like to fulfil all the little duties of a 
pious traveler." One of my attendants, anxious to make him- 
self useful, smoothed with his rude knife a place upon one of 
the rocks,, and I added my name to the many who have here 
" fulfilled the pious duty." E"© thing now remained preparatory 
to a descent, but to have 

A DINNER UPON THE TOP OF CHEOPS. 

I had arranged to bring my lunch with me, and now spread 
the cloth with due ceremony. It was not altogether a solitary 
meal. My two attendants were close at hand, with expectant 
looks, and the bottle boy felt called upon to exercise himself in 
the duties of his vocation with unremitting attention. They 
shared with me; and not to be outdone in generous hospitality, 
one of them opened the loose folds of his shirt bosom, and 
drew out a small package of cotton cloth, that looked as though 
it had been dipped in a mud-puddle, and dried in a coal smoke, 
and unrolling several folds, brought out a large piece of goat's 
milk cheese, beautifully striped inside and out, commended its 
excellence, and invited me to partake. Its party colors of deep 
gray and dirty yellow were j^'^^'t'^i^ fi^cia evidence of its unrefined 
manufacture, and anxious as I was to reciprocate every friendly 
office, I was under the painful necessity of politely declining to 
partake, fearing he ''would rob himself." The repast was 
over; my associates were in good humor; the bottle boy had 
induced me to drink, and aware that he had gained an import- 



134 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



ant advantage in his siege on my copper coin, his countenance 
wore a more cheerful aspect, ^^'ow came the decisive time for 
a direct and open assault, which, I have no doubt, my cicerones 
contemplated from the start, and for which they had cunningly 
prepared the way in the extemporaneous songs to the music of 
which we had kept time in our ascent. Laying aside all reserve, 
they openly broached the question, and without any circumlocu- 
tion or figure of speech asked me for a backsheesh. 

I had settled the question in my own mind before hand, not- 
withstanding my bargain with the sheik, that my attendants 
should have an extra fee; but not wishing to appear too willing, 
for sometime I evaded a direct answer. At last I said: Why, 
I am to pay the sheik; I suppose you get your share of it? 
How do you manage that?" "I tell you," says one : "We be 
thirty men, all here to wait on de traveler. He, de sheik." 
"Wlio appoints the sheik?" said I. "DePasha." "SothePasha 
keeps you here to take care of the place and help travelers ? 
'•Yes." ''And who gets the money?" continued I. "Well, de 
Pasha he get some first, den de sheik he get some, den de rest 
he divide mong us all — so many no get much pay; gib us back- 
sheesh, won't you?" "Well, you are two right good fellows," 
said I ; "you helped me up all right. l!s'ow you help me down, 
take me inside, show me all around, and I will give you a back- 
sheesh." "'How much you gib?" "I give you one shilling 
(twenty -five cents) each." "0 gib us more." "JSTo, that's 
enough." "You gib him now?" "!N"ot a single para till we 
get through," said I, firmly, "then you shall have him sure." 
" You wait till we get down, den de sheik he see ; he take him 
all away, no gib us noting." "I'll take care of that; I'll see 
the sheik don't know it." This was satisfactory, and we were 
ready for 

THE DESCENT. 

I found the descent much more difficult and dangerous than 
the ascent, for there was constant danger of pitching headfore- 
most down the awful declivity. Here, again, these treacherous 
Arabs often take the advantage of the timid traveler ; for some 
persons, looking down from the fearful hights, become so dizzy 



A FALL FROM CHEOPS. 



135 



they are completely at the mercy of their guides. A day or 
two after my visit, they extorted from one mau about eight dol- 
lars before they would consent to help him any farther. On 
his return to Cairo, he made complaint to the governor, the 
money was recovered, and the guilty parties punished. 

My guides, in this perilous position, seemed anxious to im- 
press me with the importance of their services, and as we 
looked down the giddy stairway one of them said : What if 
we let you fall?" "But you will not let me fall," said I, con- 
fidently, as I tightly clasped their hands. "Did any one ever 
fall here ? " " Yes, one man he fall. He stingy. 'No pay for de 
guide. He fall down, down, down, way to de bottom. Smash 
him all in little pieces." I suppose this was their version of the 
story of an English officer, who, some years since, on his way 
home from India, visited this place. He ascended in company 
with a friend to the top, and was walking around near the edge 
of the upper tier of stones, when he suddenly fell. The atten- 
tion of his friend was immediately arrested, he saw him roll 
down several steps, and as he caught for a moment, his friend 
met his upturned, imploring gaze. It is described as horrible 
beyond all description. He caught and hung but for a moment 
on this narrow stairway, then pitching headforemost over and 
over he rolled, never stopping till he had reached the bottom. 
Every bone in his body was broken, and he was literally 
pounded to a mass of jelly. It was supposed from subsequent 
developments the act was intentional. 

VISIT TO THE INTERIOR. 

Our descent, thanks to kind Providence, was made in safety. 
As we approached the base, my guides led the way to the open- 
ing that conducts to the interior. This entrance is on the north 
side, and about fifty feet above the base. It is certainly a low, 
miserable doorway for so magnificent a structure ; but who ex- 
pects any but a dark and dreary passage to the tomb ? — for such 
is the place to which this opening leads — a tomb hidden in the 
most stupendous pile of stones the skill and labor of man ever 
erected. 

For an understanding of the strange construction of the in- 



136 EGYPT AND SINAI. 

ner rooms and passages of this miglitj receptacle of the dead, 
the annexed diagram will do more than whole pages of de- 
scription : 




A section of the Great Pyramid of Cheops, showing the Interior 
Passages and Chambers. 



No. 1. Entrance on the north side, 2. Forced entrance to the passage leading 
to the king's chamber. 3. The well. 4. Continuation of passage in the rock 
under ground. 5. Queen's chamber, 6. Grand gallery. 7, King's chamber, 8. 
Entresols or chambers above. More particular explanations are given in the text. 

The shaded part of the drawing represents the native bed of 
limestone rock upon which the pyramid is built. We will now 
enter at iTo. 1, following the passages through, describing 
them as we go. The entrance is a low one, and we have to 
stoop nearly double. Death humbles all who visit his domin- 
ions. The masonry over this entrance is worthy of notice. 
Two huge blocks resting against each other form a pent-roof 
arch. The design of this is supposed to be to take off the su- 
perincumbent weight of the stones above. We had entered 
but a few feet when we found ourselves involved in darkness. 
It was rather a strange sensation that came over me, as I stood 
in this dark, lone passage to the sepulchre of the dead, with 
only two reckless, for aught I knew, treacherous Arabs for my 
companions, whose only desire was to get as large a back- 
sheesh out of me as possible. We had entered but a few feet 



INTEEIOR OF THE PYRAMID. , 137 

when the last glimmering ray of light from the narrow open- 
ing died away. 

We stopped in the darkness of the passage, and one of the 
guides said to me, in a tone somewhat of surprise, as though we 
had met an unexpected difficulty : " Did you bring any candles 
with you?" I had posted myself with regard to all the tricks 
of these wily fellows, and had learned that one of them was, 
when they got into the interior, to suddenly extinguish the can- 
dles, and refuse to light them without a backsheesh. So I had 
put into my pocket some matches, and two or three small wax 
tapers, about as large as a pipe-stem, with which I knew I 
could find my way out, and thus bring them to terms, if they 
attempted to desert me. I immediately drew one out and lit it. 
At first, they looked a little perplexed, then they set up a laugh, 
and made sport of my puny little candle. Declaring it ''no 
good," they drew from their pockets a couple of pieces of large 
sized sperm candles, and having lighted them, we started down 
the narrow, dismal passage. 

We went down this inclined pathway, at an angle of 27°, 
about eighty feet, till we came to 'No-. 2, Here your attention 
is arrested by the marks of violence upon the stone work of the 
interior. Those who opened the way to these inner chambers, 
here found the upward passage closed by an immense granite 
stone, that had evidently been fitted in from above. This stone 
they could not move, so they forced a passage around it. Con- 
tinuing the descent down the same inclined passage a few feet 
farther^ you come to where it is cut in the solid rock. Descend- 
ing still two hundred and twenty-five feet from 'No. 2 to 4, you 
come to the lower mouth of what is called the well, a crooked 
passage leading upward. You still continue downward till 
you strike a horizontal passage, and when fifty-three feet from 
No. 4, you stand in an open subterranean chamber, cut out of 
the solid rock. From this chamber a small, unfinishe.d passage 
extends fifty-two feet farther — the object of which is unknown. 
Beneath this room there is also a deep well or pit, which has 
been excavated to the depth of thirty-six feet, but nothing of 
interest was found. In this chamber you are one hundred and 
five feet below the base of the pyramid. Herodotus mentions a 



138 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



subterranean canal, by which the water of the Mle was brought 
into these deep underground apartments, but no traces of any 
such canal has been discovered. 

Eeturning now to lS[o, 2, we take the ascending passage. 
The angle of this is the same as the other, 27°, and all these 
passages run due north and south. Ascending a short distance, 
the low, narrow passage along which you make your way, sud- 
denly expands near E'o. 3 into a large, majestic hall, called the 
" Grand Gallery." Just as you enter this, another low passage 
branches oiF in a horizontal direction, leading to what is called 
the queen's chamber. This chamber is smaller than the one 
above it, and is directly in the center or under the apex of the 
pyramid. The passage leading to this chamber is less than 
four feet high, and only three feet five inches wide. Here you 
are seventy-two feet above the level of the ground, four hun- 
dred and eight feet below the original summit, and seventy-one 
feet below the floor of the king's chamber. Eeturning again 
to N'o. 3, just where the passage branches oS to the queen's 
chamber, you find the mouth of the well, which descends in a 
zigzag course to the subterranean passage, ISTo. 4. Here also 
you see how the upward passage at this point has formerly been 
closed by four huge portcullises of granite, sliding in grooves 
of the same kind of stone. These ponderous gateways closed 
and concealed the upward entrance. These obstacles have now 
been removed, and you may continue your ascent upward along 
the grand gallery, 'No. 6, until you enter No. 7, 

THE kino's chamber. 

This is the grand apartment, and, no doubt, the great sepul- 
chral room of this astonishing structure. The length of this 
chamber is thirty-four feet four inches ; the breadth, seventeen 
feet seven inches; the hight, nineteen feet two inches. The 
upper ceiling is flat, composed of huge blocks of granite, laid 
across from wall to wall; the sides are also cased with granite 
slabs, finely polished, and the joints very closely fitted together. 
Immediately over this chamber are several smaller ones. No. 8. 
The ascent to them is by means of small holes cut into the wall 
at the southeast corner of the great gallery. These rooms are 



INTEEIOR OF THE PYEAMID. 



139 



only three or four feet high, and their only use seems to be to 
relieve the roof of the king's chamber from the heavy pressure 
of stone that would otherwise rest upon it from above. In 
these small chambers are found the only inscriptions that have 
yet been discovered in any part of this great edifice. These 
are hieroglyphics painted on the stones with red oclier. They 
were evidently written upon the blocks before they were laid 
in their places, for some of them are turned upside down, and 
in some the inscriptions are partly covered by the other stones 
about them. These inscriptions settle a question that has 
sometimes been disputed; they prove that the hieroglyphics are 
older than the pyramids. Among them is found the name of 
Cheops, after whom this pyramid is named, and by whom it 
is supposed to have been built. 

THE AGE OF THE PYRAMIDS 

Has also been a disputed question, and some have assigned 
to them an astonishing antiquity. Dr. Seyffarth, who has be- 
stowed almost a lifetime upon Egyptian antiquities, and who 
reads the hieroglyphics with great facility, gives us some new 
and interesting facts about names and dates. Lepsius placed 
the building of the pyramids before the flood! Manetho, as 
some interpret him, assigns to some of these monuments an 
antiquity completely astounding, giving us a line of kings and 
a series of events reaching over more than thirty- six thousand 
years from the creation to the Christian era ! How then, it has 
been asked, can the Mosaic record be true ? Some of the con- 
clusions reached by Seyffarth in his investigations, and for 
which he finds good authority, are as follows : That the ante- 
diluvians had a written language, and were acquainted in as- 
tronomy, with the present zodiac, and that the knowledge of 
these were transmitted by N'oah to his posterity ; that all the 
languages in the world were derived from the Hebrew, the 
original language, as can be proved from the names and forms 
of the letters of different ancient alphabets, and from the lan- 
guage of the ancient Egyptians; that ^oah re-arranged the 
original alphabet, causing the letters to correspond to the plan- 



140 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



etary configuration of the zodiac at the time of the deluge; 
thus incontrovertibly fixing the time of its occurrence. 

These planetary configurations found upon the interior of 
tombs, the walls of temples and other monuments, are among the 
wonderful discoveries that have recently been brought to light. 
It consisted in recording the date of an important event, as, for 
instance, the dedication of a temple, the reign or death of a 
king, by simply tracing upon the walls of the temple, or over 
the figure of the king, or on the sarcophagus, the position the 
constellations and planets occupied in the zodiac at that partic- 
ular juncture ; and as every astronomer knows, so slow are the 
revolutions of those fixed stars, they have occupied such posi- 
tion but once since the creation, and will not occupy such posi- 
tion again for thousands of years to come ; and any one accus- 
tomed to calculate* the movements of these bodies can tell pre- 
cisely the date of any such given configuration. A few years 
since, Dr. Seyfiarth lectured upon Egyptian antiquities in St. 
Louis, Missouri ; Professor Mitchell, one of the most celebrated 
astronomers of the day, was present. He heard the Doctor 
state that he found on an Egyptian sarcophagus in the London 
museum a planetry diagram, by which he knew the burial took 
place in the fall of 1722 B. C. Professor Mitchell, on returning 
home, commenced an astronomical calculation, and made a di- 
agram of the position of the stars for the autumnal equinox 
of 1722 B. C. Doctor Seyfiarth received it, compared it with 
the one upon the Egyptian sarcophagus, and found that the po- 
sition of the heavenly bodies in the two corresponded in every 
particular ! 

But to go on with his enumerations : That more or less of the 
original revelations were preserved among all ancient nations, 
and that the true Grod was for a long time worshiped, but that 
the worship of inferior creatures ultimately relapsed into total 
idolatry; in confirmation of which, he gives us extracts from 
ancient papyrus rolls, taken from the oldest tombs of Egypt, 
containing the ancient sacred books of the Egyptians, abound- 
ing in such passages as the following — a translation from an 
old papyrus roll taken from an ancient tomb and now in a muse- 
um at Turin. Title: " This is the book of prayers for the praise 



RELIGION AND CHRONOLOGY. 141 

of the Lord Lord, who has resolved to create servants serving 
the eternal counselor, the creator of all things." Selections: 
" There is a Most-Holy one, a creator of the fullness of the 
earth, a ruler of days. I am the God of gods, the exalted 
maker of the planets, and of the hosts which are praising me 
above thy head, and the creator of the exalted race of the 
mighty princes and governors; (I) who sit in judgment; the 
Most-Holy one who condemns the wicked." "I am myself the 
world, the judge of every deed; myself the light (i. e. the sun) 
that convicts the evil doer; myself the king, the preserver of 
the laws of Egypt, who dwell at On, the City of the Sun." I am 
the light, the son of the primeval light; I dwell in the exalted 
land of light, and was born in the land of light (with me there 
is no night)." ''The government is mine, who am the Lord, 
who have made my arm, m}^ right arm, to be dreaded; the 
Most-Holy one, who hath trampled under foot the abode of the 
wicked; who hath destroyed (in the deluge) the polluted race 
of the world; who hath made the children of the deceiver, 
(Satan,) and the insolent of the habitation of wickedness upon 
the earth, to tremble." These are a few extracts from many 
translations made by him, showing the doctrines of these an- 
cient religious books of the Egyptians, taught more than four 
thousand years ago—light breaking from the ancient tombs! 
Doctor Seyffarth further shows that these sacred books, and the 
knowledge of the early history of our race, were known among 
all the nations of antiquity, and were the source of the tradi- 
tions of creation, the fall of man, the flood, etc., that are now 
found scattered among the different races of men over the face 
of the whole earth, even where the Bible has been unknown. 
He also proves by fourteen of these planetary configurations, 
found upon difierent monuments, that Menes did not take pos- 
session of Egypt until 2781 B. C, during the life of Phaleg, 
six hundred and sixty-six years after the deluge — the chronolo- 
gy of these configurations corresponding with the Septuagint. 
He also enumerates all the particularly remarkable kings, from 
Menes down to Herodotus, for which, also, he has the authority 
of that celebrated historian — Moeris, 1777 B. C; after him his 
son. Sesostris (Osymanda), 1731 B. C; then Pheron (Kameses 



142 EGYPT AKD SINAI. 

. the Great), 1694 B. C; then Proteus, at the time of the Trojan 
war; tben Rhampsinit; then Cheops, the supposed builder of 
this structure; then Chephren, who built the pyramid that 
stands by its side. This chronology, Seyffarth assures us, is 
confirmed by the astronomical observations and planetary con- 
figurations recorded, and which can now be seen upon Egyp- 
tian monuments. 

If these chronological conclusions are right, then many 
former perplexing errors are corrected, the dates of important 
events are incontrovertibly settled, the fables and marvelous le- 
gends with which some had invested the early history of this 
land are cleared away, Manetho's thirty thousand years are all 
brought within the limits of our established records, and we 
learn, also, that the pyramids were not built before the crea- 
tion ! they were not built before the flood ! they were not built 
before writing was invented ! they were not here when Abra- 
ham visited Egypt, and this one, at least, was not built by the 
children of Israel, indeed, was not erected until about the close 
of the Trojan war, and about the time that David was king 
over Israel. Thus it is that light seems to be springing up from 
the ruin and darkness of the past: from these moldering re- 
mains of antiquity, voices are heard vindicating the revelations 
of God to man. 

I trust I shall not diminish the interest with which we look 
upon this wonderful structure, by thus clipping off a few thous- 
and years from its antiquity. It is still a venerable and hoary 
pile, and we contemplate it with awe and reverence. But I 
forget where we are; I am detaining you too long in this dark 
chamber, with its suffocating atmosphere and its gloomy asso- 
ciations. There is but one thing more for us to notice particu- 
larly— - 

THE OLD GRANITE SARCOPHAGUS. 

It is the only piece of furniture the chamber contains — a chest 
of red granite, chiseled from a solid block. It measures outside, 
seven feet five inches in length, three feet two inches in breadth, 
three feet three inches deep, and its sides between four and five 
inches thick. Its size is just about equal to the doorway, but 



THE OLD SARCOPHAGUS. 



143 



larger than the passage leading to the room, so that it must 
have been placed here when the room was built. ,Was it for 
this sarcophagus this stupendous pile of stone was erected? 
That this great monument was intended for the dead seems evi- 
dent, and this is the only tomb found within it. And what has 
become of the lordly occupant? When, and by whom was it 
filled, and when did it give up its treasure ? There it stands, 
in mute and mock defiance of every efibrt to ascertain the his- 
tory of its owner. I turned again and again to view that 
curious old granite chest. Like the tomb of Joseph after the 
morning of the resurrection, it was empty; the stone had been 
rolled away from the door, but no angel sat upon it to give the 
anxious visitor tidings of its occupant. Whose dust was de- 
posited here, and what ruthless hands had invaded the sanctity 
of the tomb? I stood by its side, laid my hands upon it, and 
gazed into it with a long, deep, earnest look ! 

One of my guides seeing me thus interested in the old tomb, 
ventured to speak: "You like to hab piece ob dat?" I looked 
at it. Rude hands had hammered at it till everj^ edge and cor- 
ner had been rounded off by the perpetual chipping. What 
sacrilegious visitants," thought I. ''But, then, what harm? and 
why may not I share with others ? When I set up my little 
cabinet of curiosities away near seven thousand miles from this, 
will it not be pleasant to add to the collection a little splinter 
from this old granite sarcophagus — a little bit of the tomb of 
Cheops, from the great valley of the Wile, transported to the 
great valley of the father of waters in the West, where, too, are 
buried cities and monumental mounds, still wrapped in pro- 
founder mystery! Ah! little did that great monarch think, 
when he built this mighty mausoleum, with its secret winding- 
passages and intricate chambers, and had his mortal remains so 
carefully laid away and wonderfully walled in, that curious 
travelers, from a then far off* and unknown world, would come 
and gaze upon his empty sepulchre, and wonder who had been 
its occupant ! " 

Thoughts like these passed rapidly through my mind, while 
the tall Arab stood leaning towards me waiting for my answer. 
" I'd give a dime for a piece of it," said I, as if awaking from 



144 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



a reverie. He vanished into a dark corner of the chamber, and 
immediately appeared again with a stout bowlder in his hand : 
tapped the chest gently at first to show how clear and musical, 
like a bell, it would ring ; then he pounded away at it with as 
little compunction as though it had been a piece of rough 
granite in the quarry. The reverberations rung like a death- 
knell through the loft}^ chamber and along the arched gaUe- 
ries. I almost trembled, as if expecting some slumbering 
genii of the place would be aroused, and come with demon 
fury to avenge the insult to the shades of the departed. The 
work was completed ; a small bit of the red granite was placed 
in my hand, and I passed back the promised pledge. He took 
the dime, rolled it in his fingers — a thought struck him. "We 
got no small money. We can't divide him. Gib us another, 
will you?" Surrounded by so much greatness, I was not dis- 
posed to stand upon trifies, and I handed him the second dime. 
I was now ready to go, but my guides had another act in the 
drama to perform. They wanted to show me the wonderful 

ECHO OF THE CHAMBER. 

One of them uttered a long, clear, musical note. It rever- 
berated from side to side, from roof to floor, and floor to roof; 
and came back, echo after echo, from the long gallery, until it 
seemed as if a hundred voices had conspired to prolong the 
sound. Then the two set in for an extemporaneous song. It 
was in part like the one to the music of which we had as- 
cended the outside, except an addition to the chorus, not only 
complimentary, but intendecl to remind me of my backsheesh 
pledge. It closed as follows : 

American gentleman berry good man, 
Give us backsheesh, not tell sheik, 
Yankee doodle dandy, 

THE EGRESS. 

My visit was over. Along the close and sufibcating pathway 
we climbed, and just as the light of day came stealing into the 
gloomy recess, my guides again stopped. "De sheik he no 
pay us for dese candles; we get em oursef. Gib us dime." 



PAKTING WITH THE ARABS. 



145 



This seemed reasonable, and as I bad started witb tbe intention 
of paying my way tbrougb, and making friends witb tbese 
genii — no, geniuses — of tbe place, I promptly paid over tbe 
coveted dime. Again we stood npon tbe outside steps. I took 
long, deep draugbts of tbe fresb, pure air, and rejoiced at my 
release from tbe dark and stifling cbambers witbin. Again I 
opened my purse, and eacb Arab received witb a bow and a 
tbank 'e bis promised sbilling — backsbeesb. A few minutes 
more, and we were face to face witb tbe sbeik, at tbe corner of 
tbe great pile wbere we first started on our strange expedition. 
He met me witb a dignified air and pleasant smile : How you 
like bim?" '-Very well," said I; ''great ^Dlace; very good 
men! I owe you five sbillings." " Yes." I placed tbe silver 
in bis band ; be received it witb a complacent smile, and trans- 
ferred it to his purse, and to my great surprise, and true to bis 
agreement, put in no claim for a backsbeesb — tbe first, and I 
believe tbe only Arab I dealt witb, tbat was content witb bis 
stipulated wages. 

Taking out my memorandum book, "]^ow,''' said I, "I am 
going. I want tbe names of tbese two men and your oy^tl, tbat 
I may remember you wben I get to America." At tbis tbey 
seemed mucb pleased. "Your name?" "Abdallab Said." 
"Yours?" "Abbara Said." Tben turning to tbe governor, 
" Sbeik Allab, superintendant," said be. I saw be was proud 
of bis title and position, and so I put it all down. We sbook 
bands and parted good friends, and tbe remembrance of my 
visit to tbe great pyramid, and my reception and treatment by 
its Arab attendants, will ever be accompanied witb pleasant as- 
sociations. It was so different from wdiat most travelers report, 
I am almost persuaded to believe tbat tbe poor fellows are 
eitber greatly libeled, or tbat travelers are greatly at fault in 
tbeir own conduct. As I turned away, anotber cpiestion occu- 
pied m}^ mind : 

WHY WERE THESE PYRAMIDS BUILT? 

Tbere bas been mucb speculation upon tbis subject. Tbat 
tbey were built for tombs is very evident. Tbe place wbere 
tbey stand — in tbe very midst of a city of tombs — tbe sar- 



146 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



cophagi found in the inner chambers, and other reasons that 
might be mentioned, all seem to indicate that this was their 
primary design. But while this was their main object, they 
might, as has been suggested, have served for other purposes. 
Some say they were intended to aid in astronomical observa- 
tions. They do not, however, appear to have been intended for 
observations, for the tops were pointed, and the outsides covered 
with a smooth casing, to prevent access to them. They stand 
exactly due north and south, and the observation of the sun's 
shadow might have served to fix the return of certain periods 
of the year. 

If they are simpl}' tombs, why built at such enormous ex- 
pense of time, labor and money? We can give no answer, only, 

To gratify the foolish ambition of kings." How much reli- 
gious superstition, and false notions of the future well-being of 
the soul, as connected with the preservation of the body, had 
to do with it, we cannot tell. Certain it is, there seems to have 
been some most powerful motive, more so than any mere 
earthly ones could exert, to preserve the body from destruction. 
But these questions are locked in the impenetrable secrets of 
the past. Another question arises, 

BY WHOM WERE THEY OPENED? 

This is another of those mysteries that would gratify our cu- 
riosity, and yet might minister but little to our fund of useful 
knowledge. This piece of vandalism is attributed, like many 
others, to the Caliphs. They understood that secret chambers 
existed in these structures, and that valuable treasures were 
often interred with the kingly occupants of these places. Ca- 
liph Mamoon has the credit, or discredit, of opening this great 
pyramid, about eight hundred and twenty years after Christ. 
His engineers commenced in the center of the structure, and 
forced a passage by immense labor about one hundred feet. 
The cunning builders, supposing a passage would be looked for 
in the center, had placed it about twenty-three feet towards one 
side. In the eftbrts to penetrate the interior, the workmen, 
having forced their way about one hunded feet, accidentally 
struck the real passage. 



A EIDDLE EXPLAINED. 



147 



Access was at last obtained to the hidden chamber and tomb, 
but alas ! the coveted treasures were not to be found. Some 
earlier explorer had entered before the Caliph, and if the tomb 
had ever contained any thing valuable, it had been taken away. 
It is said the Egyptians themselves plundered many of the 
tombs of Thebes, and this one probably did not escape their ra- 
pacity. It is also the opinion of some that these immense piles 
contain secret passages and hidden chambers that have not yet 
been discovered, and that future explorations may yet be re- 
warded by valuable and important discoveries. 

THE SPHINX. 

I now turned my attention to a few other interesting objects 
in the immediate vicinity. I had often read of the sphinx, but 
I found I had formed a very imperfect conception of it. Come 
with me then, and look at this great monster. But first let us 
talk about the sphinx in general, and then examine this one 
more particularly. The Sphinx has a prominent place in Gre- 
cian as well as in Egyptian mythology, but the Grecian Sphinx, 
appears to have been quite different from the Egyptian ; theirs 
was a cruel, fabulous monster, partly animal, partly human, 
sent by Juno among the Thebans to punish them for some of 
their misdeeds. It kept a portion of the country under contin- 
ual alarms, by propounding difficult enigmas, and devouring 
the inhabitants if they could not explain them. But this cruel 
monster had one vulnerable point. It was whispered that she 
could not survive a defeat. She would put an end to herself if 
one of her riddles was explained. At last came this enigma : 
"What animal walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, 
and three in the evening?" The terrified inhabitants offered a 
crown and the daughter of a king for a wife to any one who 
would solve it. At last one Edipus made the discovery that man 
walks on his hands and feet when young, or in the morning of 
life; at the noon of life, he walks erect; in the evening of his 
days, he leans upon his staff. The Sphinx, chagrined at being 
thus defeated, threw herself from a high rock and expired. 

Such being the end of the Grecian Sphinx, we are not to 
look for its resurrection in these Lybian sands ; this is an Egyp- 



148 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



tian Sphinx, with disposition and qualities quite different from 
the one we have been contemplating. Of these singular stat- 
ues, the Egyptians had many ; they stood as sentinels along the 
magnificent avenues that led to their temples. They were the 
head and shoulders of a man upon the body of a lion, sup- 
posed to represent the union of intellect and strength. They 
were of all sizes, from that of a small animal to the mighty co- 
lossus that now stands before us. Many of these sphinxes 
have been removed from Egypt, and now adorn, the museums 
of Europe. One of them I saw in the Louvre at Paris, twen- 
ty-two feet long, carved from a single block of red granite ; but 
this one is as unmovable as the solid rock of the hill from 
which it is quarried. Let us approach and examine it. 

We are first struck with its peculiar formation. It stands 
seventeen hundred feet due east of the second pyramid, and 
about one thousand feet southeasterly from the southeast cor- 
ner of the great pyramid. The great pyramids under whose 
shadows it rests, no doubt, much diminish the awe and rever- 
ence its gigantic proportions would otherwise inspire. As you 
come up from the east it stands directly facing you, looking out 
towards the eastern sky, as if to catch the first glimpses of the 
golden sun of the morning. It is one hundred and twenty- 
eight feet long ; from the rock on which it rests its lion-like 
breast to the top of the head, is fifty-five feet nine inches, while 
that massive head measures round the forehead eighty-eight 
feet seven inches. It is, like all others of its species found in 
Egypt, in a recumbent or crouching posture, and it stretches 
out its enormous paws fifty feet in front of its capacious breast. 

This unwieldly monster, except the paws, is a monolith, that 
is, it is of one piece, cut from the native rock of the limestone 
ledge of which it forms a part. On the back, where the origi- 
nal rock appears to have been defective, pieces of stone have 
been fitted in. This imposing head was adorned with a cover- 
ing much resembling a wig, the flowing hair of which can still 
be seen projecting from each side. Time, the driving sands of 
the desert, and the hand of violence, have left their wasting in- 
fluences on this noble piece of art. The nose has been nearly 
destroyed, the emblematic horns that adorned the head have 



THE GIGANTIC SPHINX. 



149 



been broken off, deep furrows have been plowed in the neck 
and sides of the face ; but there it stands, still grand, noble and 
majestic. 

Several years since, some scientific gentlemen, making explo-^ 
rations here, had the sand and rubbish cleared away, that for 
centuries had been accumulating over it, and beneath which it 
was nearly buried. It w^as found to rest upon a smooth, rocky 
platform, an altar standing between its giant paws. On this 
platform were scattered about fragments of altars, lions, tablets 
and other sculptures, clearly indicating that here had been a 
sanctuary to which funeral processions had come, where sacri- 
fices had been ofiered and sepulchral rites performed. It is 
supposed that it is the remaining one of a pair of sphinxes that 
once stood as guardian deities, gracing the entrance to a mag- 
nificent avenue leading to the pyramids. On one of the gran- 
ite blocks found near the feet of the^ sphinx, Thothmes IV. is 
represented on one side offering incense, on the other, pouring 
out a libation to the figure of a small sphinx. Pliny says this 
great Sphinx was a local deity, and treated with divine honors, 
not only by priests, but by strangers who visited the spot. The 
sands of the desert have again destroyed every vestige of these 
laborious excavations. The lone divinity has been re-entombed, 
and now stands with only his head and shoulders above the 
ground, like a lone guardian of these sepulchral regions. 

The Greeks of ancient days evidently had access to this di- 
vinity of the tombs, for when the excavations alluded to w^ere 
made, a Greek inscription was found cut upon one of the paw^s, 
which has been translated as follows : 

"Thy form sUipendous here the gods have placed, 

Sparing each spot of harvest-hearing land ; 

And with this mighty work of art have graced 

A rocky isle, encumhered once with sand. 

And near the pyramids have bid thee stand : 

Not that fierce Sphinx that Thehes erewhile laid waste, 

But great Latona's servant, mild and bland, 

"Watching the prince beloved who fills the throne 

Of Egypt's plains, and calls the Nile his own ; 

That heavenly monarch, who his foes defies. 

Like Vulcan, powerful ; and like Pallas, wise." 



150 



EGYPT A-^B Sl-^Al. 



But while this Sphinx has Egyptian records on his tablets, 
and names of kings on his altars, and carved lessons in G-reek 
on his paws, has he no homilies for us ? That Sphinx is 

A GRAVE OLD PREACHER. 

There is something solemn and impressive in those time-worn 
features ; marred and scarred as they are by the lapse of weary 
centuries, we gaze upon them with strange interest. Come 
and sit down here on these drifting sands, beneath which he 
lies nearly buried, and let him talk to us. 

Once I was a deity. The crown of honor was on my head: 
a majestic temple opened for me its sculptured portals; the 
emblems of worship were at my feet ; the smoke of burning 
mcense enveloped me in fragrant clouds; oblations and sacri- 
fices were laid upon mine altars, and costly libations were poured 
out by adoring multitudes. Alas ! how changed ! My temple 
has fallen into ruins about me. My altars have been broken 
and desecrated b}^ ruthless hands, and I have been powerless to 
repel or punish the sacrilegious act. The patrons of my shrines 
have perished around me. I saw them borne to yonder great 
monumental piles, and I could administer no consolation, nor 
cheer the dying hour with a single ray of hope. I saw the 
monuments where they had hid themselves plundered before 
my eyes, and I could lift no hand to smite the heartless inva- 
ders of the realms of death. I have been the derision of the 
conqueroi^, the scoff of the plunderer; sacrilegious hands have 
smitten me ; the storms have plowed deep furrows upon my face : 
I am fast yielding to decay, and the ruin that has fallen upon 
my companions and predecessors is settling down upon me. 
The winds of heaven are sounding my requiem, and the sands 
of the desert are weaving over me a tomb. I am no divinity I 
I, too, must perish! I have not saved others; I cannot save 
myself!" 

Venerable relic of the past ! thou hast been taught lessons 
few have ever been able to learn. Thou hast been taught to 
jinow thyself — ^the knowledge of thine own weakness, insignifi- 
cance, mortality — and thou art humbled. But is that all? 
Tell us, thou ancient chronicler ! as thou hast seen the mighty 



THE SPHINX'S SEEM ON. 



151 • 



tide of centuries sweeping by, hast thou no treasured wisdom 
for us children, who come and sit at thy feet? What words of 
warning and instruction hast thou? Where shall man look for 
light and life? In what divinity can he trust?" 

" Children of a day, what sights I have seen ! What sounds 
T have heard ! What lessons I have learned ! I saw all the 
gods of this land confounded and overthrown! I saw the 
w^orkings of that invisible hand that was stretched out in Al- 
mighty power! I saw yonder majestic river rolling through 
those fertile plains in torrents of blood ! I saw those fearful 
flashes of lightning, heard those awful thunders, and felt the 
power of that fierce storm of hail that smote man and beast! 
I heard the wailings that came up from cottage and courtly 
palace on that ghastly night, when the angel of death un- 
sheathed his sword and walked in terror through the land ; our 
gods were stripped of their divine honors, our magicians con- 
founded, our priests put to confusion ! I heard from the impe- 
rial palace of yonder ruined city, the confession these wonders 
and judgments extorted! It was the triumph of the King of 
kings, the exaltation of the Lord of lords. Yes, the Lord he 
is God. He dwells not in reptiles, birds and beasts. He is not 
in the hissing serpent, the sacred ibis, the royal bull, nor yet in 
sculptured stone — alas ! how these things have perished around 
me ! He fills heaven above you with glory, and the earth is full 
of his works. He is more enduring than the Sphinx, greater 
than the pyramids, sublimer than the mountains, infinite in 
glory, majesty and power." His sermon was ended. Farewell ! 
venerable Mentor ! Well hast thou spoken. Long-remembered 
and useful be the lessons that have fallen from thy mute yet 
eloquent lips ! 

OTHER TOMBg. 

These pyramids are only great tombs among the myriads of 
smaller ones with which they are encircled. The whole west- 
ern bank in this vicinity of the green valley of the Kile, for 
miles and miles, has been consecrated to the repose of the dead. 
Here are the sepulchers of kings, mummy pits, ibis tombs, and 
rock-hewn chambers, for the magnificent sarcophagi of Apis 



152 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



bulls. Here countless thousands have been gathered unto their 
fathers, and the sands of the desert are every year burying 
them deeper and deeper. 

The bottle boy had been a close companion — had followed 
me in all my walks — stood by my side when I gazed on the 
Sphinx, and waited patiently for me through all my reveries. 
He was master of a little English, and very kind and consider- 
ate in his attentions. He not only invited me to drink, but 
seeing my hands soiled by climbing the rocks, offered to pour 
water upon them ; picked up fossil shells and specimens of 
stones for me, and withal was so gentle, he won upon my affec- 
tions, and I was pleased to have him with me. His chances for 
a good backsheesh were already decidedly favorable. Turning 
away from the Sphinx, he called my attention to a wonderful 
tomb that had just been excavated. It was only a short dis- 
tance from the Sphinx. The top of the ground had been 
cleared away, the sand and rubbish all removed, leaving the 
entire vault open to inspection. A large, square pit, about 
twenty-five feet each way, was cut directly down into the rock 
to the depth of about twenty feet. Around this pit there was 
cut, also into the solid rock, a trench about ten feet wide, and a 
few feet deeper than the central pit — thus leaving a room 
completely surrounded by a heavy wall of solid rock. In the 
center of this inner pit or room was a large granite chest, cut 
from a solid block, very much like the one I have described in 
the king's chamber of the pyramid. This was covered by a 
heavy lid of the same material. This lid had been carefully 
lifted off and set one side. Within the chest lay the coffin or 
real sarcophagus. It was, in shape, very much like our metallic 
burial cases. It appeared to be carved from black basalt, and was 
covered over with hieroglyphical figures and inscriptions, and 
was looking as clean, fresh and perfect as when fi.rst deposited. 
It had not yet been opened. Whether any thing would be 
found to reveal the name and character of the occupant, and 
when he lived, was yet uncertain. Within that sculptured 
chest was undoubtedly sleeping the mummied remains of some 
distinguished personage. For thousands of years he had en- 
joyed here the quiet sleep of the tomb, among his fathers and 



ADIEU TO THE PYRAMIDS. 



153 



kindred ; but now his long, long repose must be disturbed, and 
in some far off museum, inquisitive strangers would gaze upon 
his blackened and withered features and wonder who he was ! 

THE DEPARTURE. 

We have seen the wonders of the place — let us return to the 
base of the pyramid and leave for home. Bottle Boy, good 
bye ! But stop — the backsheesh ! Do n't blight the hopes of 
his yearning, expectant heart. He, no doubt, was in hopes to 
get a half piaster, perhaps a whole one. I had grown in love 
with the little fellow, and I put a quarter of a dollar into his 
hand. He looked at it at first with a doubtful, inquisitive stare, 
as though wondering if it was not bogus. Having assured 
himself it was genuine — for these fellows have all a keen dis- 
crimination of money — his eyes dilated almost to the size of the 
piece, a smile of joy kindled upon his countenance, and he 
bounded away with the lightness of a fawn to the mud hovel 
he called his home. 

I found. Hassan waiting; and the patient Lily Bob, who had 
been fasting all day on the sixpence I gave his master to buy 
him some grass, pricked up his long ears and looked at me in- 
quisitively, as much as to say, "I would be glad to leave this 
barren place.'' I had scarcely got well under way for home, 
when I found Hassan in for 

ANOTHER TRICK. 

He certainly was an inventive genius. I had not ridden more 
than ten minutes when the boy suddenly ordered a halt. Put- 
ting on a most rueful look: "0! I've left my donkey stick." 
I quizzed him a little to know what it was and how he had 
lost it. He expressed the most profound sorrow at losing it. 
"What was it worth, Hassan ? '"' said I. 0, I gib quarter dol- 
lar for him." I knew the stick was an insignificant switch, not 
worth two paras, and that the whole proceeding was a mere 
ruse to move upon my sympathies, with the expectation that I 
would immediately give him a quarter to buy another with. I 
comprehended his design at a glance, and said, carelessly: 
"i^ever mind, Hassan ; I'm in no hurry. I can wait as well as 



154 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



not. I'll stop here ; you run back and get it." Hassan turned 
and looked back, as if measuring the distance with his eye, 
hesitated a moment — Guess I go home leab him." 

The sun was just dipping his golden disk beneath the west- 
ern horizon, far over the distant deserts, as we entered the 
gates and wound our way through the narrow, crowded streets 
of Grand Cairo. We crossed the Ezbekieh — gained the hotel. 
Hassan was evidently chagrined that he had so signally failed 
in every attempt to cheat me, and received somewhat sullenly 
his two and sixpence wages and sixpence backsheesh, while I 
failed not to administer a lecture in such English as I thought 
he could understand, upbraiding him with having lied to me 
every step of the way, and assuring him that I would not em- 
ploy him again if I spent a month in Cairo. 

I had just time for a bath and the adjustment of my toilet, 
when the bell called to supper. A hard day's toil gave addi- 
tional relish to the smoking viands, and refreshed, I retired to my 
room to review the day. My excursion had cost me just three 
dollars and a quarter. Some travelers at the hotel said it was 
too much — that it was a bad precedent to deal liberally with 
the Arabs, it encouraged extortion. I could not so consider it. 
It might have been large pay for the time and place, but had it 
been in the vicinity of one of our American cities, the livery 
hire alone would have been nearly that amount. For myself, 
I was satisfied ; I had enjoyed a pleasant excursion, written my 
name upon the top of Cheops, gazed into the face of the Sphinx, 
and been taught important moral lessons — lessons of human 
greatness and human littleness. How abortive are all attempts 
to secure earthly immortality ! I put king Cheops by the side of 
Paul — the great house of stone in which the one had hid him- 
self was contrasted, in my mind, with the house not made with 
hands, eternal and in the heavens, in which the other hoped to 
rest; the crown and treasures that barbarian plunderers had 
stolen, with the crown of righteousness that will never fade 
away. 



THE CITY OF THE SUN. 



155 



CHAPTER IX. 

Excursion to Heliopolis and the Petrified Forest — a Sun- 
day IN Cairo — Visit to the Court of the Pharaohs. 

Saturday, February 16. I awoke this morning from a re- 
freshing sleep. The full orbed sun was looking in at my win- 
dow, the songs of the birds were awaking inspiring echoes 
among the tangled foliage of the Ezbekieh, and the air was 
fragrant with the perfume of the sweet flowers of the Orient. 
The day is to be devoted to an excursion to some places of in- 
terest, a few miles from the city. Breakfast over, I stood on 
the steps of the hotel, and a score of donkey boys were at once 
on hand. Hassan, at the very first glimpse of me, paraded Lily 
Bob, looking as smiling and innocent as though naught but 
truth had ever kissed his lips. I would have patronized him, 
forgetting all the past, but he immediately commenced his old 
tricks, by assuring me most solemnly the places I wanted to 
visit could not be done in a day, and we must take two days 
for it. I had posted myself as to time and distance, and knew 
he was lying to me like a reprobate, and again I poured out 
my denunciations upon him, called him a deceitful rascal, and 
assured him I would have nothing to do with him. s 

I pushed him one side, and called another: "Can you take 
me to Heliopolis, and then to the petrified forest — to both 
places and back to-day?" " Yes, sah." "And to Shoobra?" 
"Shoobra, he shut up now. We no visit him. We go by 
Shoobra." "How much you ask?'' "Two and sixpence. Dat 
de price. All de gemmen he pay so much. You get on, sah? 
Good donkey. He no fall down." He held the stirrup of his 
fancy saddle; in a moment I was astride of his Httle, clean- 



156 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



shaved beast, ready for a gallop. And now come with me and 
I will show you the ruins of Heliopolis, the ancient 

ON, OR CITY OF THE SUN. 

The place is six or seven miles from Cairo, nearly northeast; 
the ride a most delightful one. A part of the way you have a 
fine, broad, paved road, and the whole distance you are riding 
through green fields of corn, clover and various other produc- 
tions of the luxuriant soil. lN"ow an orange grove opens upon 
your sight, then an extensive vineyard, while all the time your 
pathway is shaded by avenues of tamarisk, fig and acacia, that 
weave their branches in tangled arches above your head. As 
we approach the place, attention is called to some huge stone 
blocks near the road. These are beautiful Corinthian capitals, 
but the columns they once graced have now entirely disap- 
peared. As you approach nearer, a beautiful obelisk lifts its 
slender form high into the heavens, standing in lone and solita- 
ry grandeur, the only monument left to mark the site of the 
ancient, opulent city. This monument the donkey boys con- 
found with the name of the ancient city, and call the place Ile- 
liobolisk. Around it are numerous mounds of earth ; the de- 
bris of ruined buildings mixed with fragments of carved stone 
and broken pottery. Some five or six feet of earth had accu- 
mulated about the base of this obelisk, but it has now been 
removed, so as to reveal its full length. It is a single shaft of 
red granite, sixty-eight feet two inches high, and six feet three 
inches broad at the base. This is the father of all the obelisks, 
the oldest one in existence, and here it stands in its original po- 
sition, where its builders first erected it. Its firm base and 
towering head have withstood all the assaults of time, the con- 
vulsions of the elements, and the devastations of war. The 
wreck and ruin of four thousand years have not prevailed 
against it. 

The ancient Egyptians always built sphinxes and obelisks in 
pairs. So it is said another obelisk formerly stood opposite 
this, and the two marked the entrance to a magnificent temple. 
From the description of ancient writers, it is supposed there 
was here a long avenue of sphinxes, reaching to the northwest 



EXCURSION TO HELIOPOLIS. 



157 



gate of the city. Fragments of these are still occasionally 
found, but all that is valuable has been caught up by antiqua- 
rians and removed, to add to the interest of public and private 
museums. 

This obelisk not only had its companion to grace the avenue 
to the temple of the sun, but others, how many we know not, 
rose in majesty and beauty around it. From here were proba- 
bly taken the two we have before seen at Alexandria, also the 
beautiful one that adorns the terrace of St. Peter's Church at 
Rome, another that adorns the grounds of the Lateran, and still 
another that stands at the Porta del Popolo of the same city. 
This one is covered with hieroglyphics from base to top. These 
hieroglyphics being deeply cut into the stone, the wasps upon 
the two sides least exposed to the weather have chosen them 
for their dwellings, and have so cased them to the very apex in 
mud as to make them illegible. 

THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN. 

The grounds in the immediate vicinit}^ of this obelisk have 
been cultivated for many years as a garden. Here the careless 
fellaheen sow their seeds and gather their harvests, in stolid 
indifference to the buried ruins beneath their feet. Yet, here 
stood one of the oldest and finest cities of the world, and here 
are buried the remains of some of the earliest temples. The 
ancient Egyptian name of the city, as expressed in the hiero- 
glyphics, is Re-ei, House or abode of the Sun. The Greeks called 
it Heliopolis, and the Hebrews, Bethshemesh, House of the Sun. 
This place was one of the most celebrated seats of ancient learn- 
ing ; it was famed for astronomy, as well as the worship of the 
Sun, and boasted of a renowned college of priests. 

The Temple of the Sun, as described by Stabo, was a very 
large and magnificent structure. This historian also tells us, 
that when he visited the place, he saw some very large houses 
where the priests used to live, but the schools of religion and 
science had been discontinued; not a single professor was any 
where to be found. A few priests had charge of the temple, 
and explained their religious rites to strangers, and also pointed 
out the house where Eudoxus and Plato lived, spending thirteen 
10 



158 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



years under the priests of tliis renowned city. The sacred bull, 
Mnevis, shared also with the sun the divine honors of the city, 
and was one of the most noted among the sacred animals of 
Egypt. Many interesting sculptures and inscriptions have been 
found here, and doubtless many others lie entombed among 
these shapeless mounds, that future researches may bring to 
light. A red granite fragment was found at some distance 
from the obelisk, on which are the name and mutilated figure 
of the great Eemesis. Xot far from the obelisk is 

THE FOrXTAIX 01 THE SUTi. 

This is a beautiful fountain of water, springing directly from 
the earth ; and fountains of this kind being so rare in Egypt, it 
has ever made this a celebrated spot. Some say it is the only 
living spring in the valley of the Xile. Xot far from this place, 
a venerable old sycamore tree spreads broad and thick its mas- 
sive branches, forming an inviting shade. When Joseph and 
Mary, with the child Jesus^ fled from the jealous and cruel 
Herod, and took refuge in Egypt, tradition says they reposed 
under the shadow of these over-hanging bows, and slaked 
their thirst at this renowned fountain: and lo I the salt waters 
of the fountain were sweetened and the tree blessed with a 
perennial greenness and vigor! That the parents of Jesus 
should visit the City of the Sun, would be a very natural con- 
sequence of their coming into Egypt: that they should drink 
from this fountain would also be most probable, and it would 
not be unreasonable to suppose they would seek a shade from 
the scorching rays of the sun. But that this is the tree, or that 
a perpetual miracle was the result, is not very probable. 

The first cotton planted in Egypt, was grown near this obe- 
lisk, on the site of this ruined city. It was sown as an experi- 
ment some thirty years ago, and now Egypt exports large 
quantities of this great staple. In the gardens of this city 
flourished the celebrated balsam trees, that were transplanted 
from the gardens upon the plains of the Jordan near J ericho, 
by Cleopatra. These trees are supposed to be the balm of 
Gilead mentioned in the Bible. 'None of them now exist, 
either here or near Jericho. Some of them were transplanted 



VICISSITUDES OF LIFE. 



159 



to Arabia, near Mecca, where they still flourish, and from 
whence the balsam is now brought to Egypt and Europe. A 
short distance from this also we can look out upon the plain, 
where in 1517 Sultan Selim encamped previous to his defeat 
of Toman Bey, the result of which was the transfer of the 
scepter of the Mamaluke kings to the victorious Osmanlee. 
But what to me was of more interest than all of these things, 
here was 

THE HOME OF JOSEPH. 

He married the daughter of Potiphera, Priest of On. How 
strangely I felt as I gazed upon that ancient monument, and 
stood in the midst of these scattered monnds, marking the site 
of a once populous city! ^ith what interest I recalled the 
history of that young Hebrew, who once acted so conspicuous 
a part in the scenes that have here transpired. That tall obe- 
lisk had witnessed his marriage, and these buried pavements 
had, no doubt, often been pressed by his feet. T\^hat an in- 
structive history is his! His origin was lonely and obscure; 
his introduction into Egypt most humiliating. How many 
persons would have sunk under his burdens, and have fallen 
under the fierce power of his temptations ! 

It was a sad and weary journey that he made trom the corn- 
forts of a home, and the fond aiiections of a doting father, to 
the hard drudgery of a bond slave in a land of strangers. It 
was a still more dreary pathway from the comforts and honors 
of the house of Potiphar to the dark and dismal dungeon, to 
become a companion of guilty felons. I saw him through 
those two long years of dismal, weary, prison life, forgotten by 
his friends and hated bv his enemies, sometimes sinkino- under 
the dark clouds of despondency that gathered over him, then 
rallying himself wdth the consciousness that his God was his 
protector. During all these cheerless months he waited in 
hope, trusting for the hour of his deliverance. His unspotted 
life was a crown of honor, his integrity the rock on which he 
was built. 

Even hope has need of patience, and patient waiting will 
bring the hour of deliverance. What a change was that from 



160 EGYPT AND SIXAI. 

the loathsome prison to the costly palace — from the companion- 
ship of criminals to a triumphal seat in the chariot of the king 
— from trembhng under the frown of his tyrant jailer, to the 
acclamations of the shouting multitude as they bowed the knee 
before him. From the depths of degradation he was raised to 
the hights of honor, and his elevation was more rapid than his 
fall. Here, too, was 

THE SCHOOL OF MOSES. 

From the waters of yonder river that flow but a little dis- 
tance from us, the daughter of Pharaoh rescued the weeping 
infant ; and she called him Moses, for she clreic him out of the 
water In the court of Pharaoh he found a home. Aiuong 
the renowned instructors that assembled in this city of the 
learned, he was sent to school. Here he became learned in all 
the wisdom of the Egyptians. But the schools and artful logic 
of their philosophers, the crafty teachings of their priests, the 
magnificence of their temples, and the pompous rituals of their 
worship, could not eradicate or overcome that knowledge of 
Jehovah God, and that attachment for his people he inherited 
by his birth and drinked in from his mother's breast. He 
turned his back upon the affluence and honors of the court, 
and chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God. 
We shall hear of him again when we visit in yonder desert the 
Mount of God; we shall see him again when in yonder Land 
of Promise we stand on the Mount of Transfiguration. What a 
history these places have ! What lessons come to us from these 
desolated mounds and these crumbling monuments I But this 
City of the Sun has another lesson for us. Let us sit down on 
this old broken column, take out our Bible, and see how this city 
was made a special subject of 

PROPHETIC DECLARATION. 

" Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel : Behold, I 
will send and take Js'ebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, my 
servant. ^ ^ ^ ^ And T will kindle a fire in the houses 
of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them, and carry them 
away captives. ^ He shall break also the images of 



IDOL GODS DESTKOYii.D. 



161 



Bethshemesh, [House of the Sun,] that is in Egypt, and the 
houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he hurn with fire." 
Jeremiah Hii. 10. 

Could prophecy have spoken in plainer terms? And here 
we sit upon the very ground of which the prophet spoke, and 
here we see around us the desolations that in fulfillment of the 
word of God have been wrought ! It was not many years after 
Jeremiah penned those words, that the proud king of Babylon 
led his conquering army, according to the record of both Jose- 
phus and Berosus, into Syria and Palestine; subdued the Am- 
monites and Moabites, and pushed his conquests into Egypt. 
He laid waste their temples, burned their wooden gods, and 
carried away their gold and silver ones, and loaded himself and 
army with the spoils of the land. What a place to meditate I 
To recall the wonders of a wonder-working God! To be im- 
pressed with his prescience, and note the Handwriting of his 
130wer ! But we have other places to visit, and must not linger 
about these impressive monuments of the past. "We turn and 
take our course towards 

THE PALACE AT SHOOBRA. 

This would well repay a visit, but it is now shut up, and un- 
dergoing repairs, and we could only get admittance to the 
grounds. It was the palace of Mohammed Ali, and is now 
owned and used by his successor in the viceroyalty. It is about 
four miles northward from the city and near the banks of the 
W\\q. a beautiful avenue, shaded by acacia trees, leads from 
the city to it. These trees have been planted between forty 
and fifty years. They grow rapidly, and when in blossom, fill 
the air with fragrance. 

When the Viceroy is at Cairo, Shoobra is generally his lodg- 
ing place. He transacts business in the palace of the citadel a 
part of the day, and retires to this beautiful retreat to regale 
and rest himself. The grounds are beautifully laid out, and 
more attractive than the palace. They are generally open to 
the public, and large numbers of visitors resort to them. It is 
said they were laid out by a Greek in old Italian style. They 
are beautifully diversified with terraces, walks, bowers, flowers 



162 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



and shaded avenues. Many of the walks are beautifully paved 
with small black and white pebbles, wrought into various de- 
signs of mosaic woi'k. 

The great attraction of the garden is a noble reservoir of 
water, gushing from marble fountains in the form of croco- 
diles. A visitor here in the days of Mohammed Ali tells us, 
that in the enjoyments of the garden he was not unmindful of 
the pleasure of his women, and had arrangements made to 
have them paddled about in boats in this great reservoir, often 
giving private directions to the boatmen to upset the frail craft 
and surprise the fair ones with a cold bath — "a piece of malice 
which aflbrded him as much unqualified delight as though he 
were still in his school-boy days." From this beautiful place 
where the senses are regaled by the adornments of art, we turn 
to contemplate one of the strange and curious freaks of 
Mature, 

THE PETRIFIED FOREST. 

I confess, notwithstanding all I had heard and read upon the 
subject, I had a very indefinite idea of what I was to see, as 
Abdallah turned the head of his donkey in the direction of the 
" forest," and urged him into a canter by a vigorous application 
of his shillalah. We passed the boundary of the Mle's green 
verdure, and struck ofi" directly into the dreary waste of sands. 
Our course lay along a valley, or waddy, as it is called here, 
with a range of barren hills on either side, from many of which 
immense quantities of stone had at some previous time been 
quarried. At a distance of several miles from the city, we 
came upon these immense petrifactions. I say immense, 
though far inferior to what I had expected to see. 

" Petrified Forest " is certainly a misnomer, for there is no 
forest here. Large masses of petrified wood are scattered here 
and there among the sands, but in this vicinity there are none 
over three or four feet long. Some of them are portions of 
thorn -bearing trees, some are palms, and some appear to be a 
kind of bamboo. Williamson tells us that in one place on the 
Suez road, he observed one of these petrified palm trees, be- 
tween twenty-five and thirty feet long, imbedded in sandstone 



A]S"CIEXT SEPULCHRES. 



163 



rock. It is supposed that these woods have been at some time 
imbedded in a friable layer of sandstone. Here, by long and 
silent process, the texture was gradual^ changed. The sand- 
stone, having at last been decomposed, was carried off by the 
winds and rains, and the heavier bodies of petrified timber 
remained upon the surface. The specimens, many of them, 
are of a very peculiar character, exhibiting sometimes a rotten 
surface of wood, the layers distinctly marked; sometimes a 
knot or joint, and then again a bit of limb, with the pith 
through the middle plainly to be seen. The place where these 
petrifactions are found, is a desolate, cheerless looking spot. I 
gathered a few specimens for my cabinet, and was glad to turn 
my face once more toward the city. As we neared Cairo, we 
passed the 

TOMBS OF THE MAM ALU KE KINGS. 

Egypt is a land of tombs! Its sepulchres have been far 
more enduring than the abodes of the living. These tombs 
stand just in the edge of the desert, not far from the city. 
They were built more than four hundred years ago, and are 
fine specimens of the Arabic architecture of those times. 
Each tomb has a mosque attached to it, surmounted by a mina- 
ret. They are built of stone, quarried from the neighboring 
hills. But, though substantially built, and formerly kept in 
repair, they are now in a very dilapidated condition, and no 
one seems to care for them. 

They have been called the tombs of the Caliphs. But the 
dust of the Caliphs, it is said, does not repose here. Their 
tombs once occupied the site now covered by the silk bazars 
of the city, and were long since destroyed. These monuments 
mark the spot where the Baharides and Mamaluke Sultans 
sleep. They were themselves invaders and plunderers; and 
now, in turn, their very tombs are wasting away. The reckless 
Arab is snatching from them stone after stone, and they too, 
like the lordly forms they were built to cover, will soon perish 
from the earth. The power and splendor of thrones and rulers 
will pass away; the beauty of the costliest monuments will 
perish forever. What are such things to these dreamless 



164 



EGYPT D SINAI. 



sleepers? "What care they whether over them the green earth 
smiles iu beauty, or the cheerless desert bleaches in the burn- 
ing sun — whether their requiem be the song of birds, and the 
hum of insects, or the wail of the desert wind, as it heaps the 
sands higher and higher over their heads ? 

MODE OF WATERING THE LAND. 

As we ride homeward, we may notice some of the peculiari- 
ties of cultivation. Though various kinds of trades and manu- 
factures are carried on in the cities, the mass of the people live 
by the cultivation of the land, and the genial climate and 
fertile soil amply repay their labors. The annual inundation 
of the 'Nile is not only the great fertilizer, but in the absence 
of rains, supplies the moisture by which vegetation is sustained. 
During the long months of sunshine that follow the abating 
of the waters, most portions of the land would become dry 
and parched, were it not for the artificial means that are 
used to treasure up the waters, and then by various means 
pour them over the land at the time when most needed. 

The Land to be irrigated is divided into small squares or beds 
by little canals cutting each other at right angles. The water 
is raised from wells, reservoirs, and, if in the vicinity of the 
Nile, from the river itself, by diflerent devices. When the water 
is to be raised but a few feet, sometimes a solitary man or boy 
may be seen dipping it up with a bucket — a slow and toilsome 
process. Sometimes a kind of basket is hung upon a couple 
of ropes, and two men, each having an end of the ropes in 
hand, keep the basket perpetually swinging, dipping it full as 
it comes down, and by a peculiar jerk of the ropes emptying it 
at every elevation upon the land. A more common device for 
this purpose is the shadoof. 

This is much like the old fashioned well-pole and sweep, . 
except that w^ood is so scarce the upright post has to be made 
of mud. Two of these mud pillars are erected, a beam laid 
across the tops, and the sweep attached to this beam. For a 
w^eight upon the end of this sweep, to balance the basket, as 
neither wood nor stone can be afforded, a large ball of mud is 
fastened to it. Here the patient native, stripped above and 




Oriental Women on Camels. 



AETiriCIAL IREIGATION. 



167 



below, witli only a piece of cloth about his loins, toils on 
through the long, weary hours of the day. Much of this 
drudgery is performed by Ethiopians and Abyssinians, and 
where the water is to be elevated to a considerable bight, rows 
of these sweeps and buckets are arranged, tier above tier, the 
first raising it to one reservoir, the second to another, until the 
required elevation is attained, from which it is spread over the 
land. The annexed engraving gives a good idea of this labo- 
rious work. When much water is to be raised, and there is 
capital enough to employ machinery, another device is resorted 
to, called the sakiyeh. 

A large horizontal wheel, with cogs, puts in motion a wind- 
lass, to which is attached a smaller vertical wheel, over which 
is thrown an endless rope, with a series of earthen pots attached. 
These operate like the buckets of grain elevators in our flour- 
ing mills, and as this series of pots go down on the one side 
empty, and come up on the other full, rolling over the top of 
the vertical wheel, they are emptied into a conductor and the 
contents carried off to the little canals along the fields. This 
machinery is very coarse and rude, and makes a dismal, screak- 
ing noise. It is put in motion by a cow or an ox, sometimes 
by a pair of them. The poor animals are blindfolded, and go 
grinding round and round their weary pathway day after day, 
all unconscious of the results of their labors. I looked for an 
illustration of watering the land with the foot, to which some 
tell us Moses alluded in speaking of the land into which he 
was to lead Israel : " It is not as the land of Egypt from whence 
ye came out, where thou sov\^edst thy seed, and wateredst it 
with thy foot as a garden of herbs ; but the land whither j'e 
go to possess it is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh 
water of the rain of heaven." Deut. xi; 10, 11. This, some 
tell us, refers to a method of raising water, sometimes practiced, 
in which light machinery, similar to the above, is turned by the 
foot like a kind of treadmill. Others think it refers to the fact, 
that when the ground was laid out into these small beds, with 
the little rivulets of water flowing among them, the channels 
were stopped by pressing the mud into little dykes with the 
bare foot, or opening them in the same way, as the ground 



168 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



might require. If the allusion was to the former practice, it 
has now mostly fallen into disuse, When Mebuhr visited this 
country, he tells us he saw a machine of this kind used foi 
watering a garden in Cairo. If the latter practice was referred 
to, illustrations of it can be constantly seen. 

But while we have been visiting these places of interest, 
and watching these pursuits of the inhabitahts, the day has 
rapidly passed, and the evening sun is throwing his parting 
rays upon desert and valley, and we must hasten to our hotel. 

STREET CRIES, TATTOOING AND BEGGARS. 

Once more we are threading our way through the narrow 
streets of the city, and now our ears are saluted with strange 
sounds from the venders of different articles, as they hawk 
them about the streets. They are talking Arabic, and we must 
ask some one to translate for us. There is a man who has 
limes for sale : ^' limes ! limes ! God make them light," that is, 
easy of sale. Another has a kind of cotton cloth made by 
machinery put in motion by a bull, and he is crying at the top 
of his voice: " The work of the bull! the work of the bull! 
O maidens ! " Another has his hands full of roses : " The rose ! 
the rose ! the rose was a thorn ; from the sweat of the Prophet 
it blossomed ! " Another has the fragrant flowers of the henna 
tree. Hear him call : " Odors of Paradise ! Odors of Paradise! 
O flowers of the henna ! " 

This henna is an article much in use in the East. The 
flowers of the plant not only possess an agreeable odor, but 
the leaves furnish the celebrated dye with which the nails and 
other portions of the body are stained. The ladies imagine 
they very much increase their beauty by these artiflcial stains 
of hands, feet, lips, cheeks and eyes. Strange, that while in 
one country all sorts of cosmetics are demanded to remove 
every vestige of pimple, spot or stain, and preserve the com- 
plexion pure and white, in another, stains become beauty spots, 
and the goddess of fashion imprints her deeply stained lines 
and figures on the fairest lip and brow. Truly, there is no 
accounting for tastes. The henna stains need renewing once 
in two or three weeks, but the deeply inwrought tattooed lines 




SPECIMENS OF TATTOOING. 



PIOUS BEGGAES 



171 



remain for life, for the coloring matter is pricked into the flesh. 
They are generally of a deep blue color, and are made on the 
forehead, chin, lips, breast, arms, hands and feet, and of any 
pattern to suit the fancy. A specimen of henna staining and 
tattooing may be seen in the engraving. 

The beggars of Cairo are most importimate, and have a pious 
method of coming at you that seems almost ludicrous. They 
begin and end with appeals to God, and are familiar with both 
imprecations and blessings. One approaches you and stretches 
out his unwashen hands : " I am seeking from my Lord a cake 
of bread ! For the sake of God, O ye charitable ! " If it is 
evening, one says : My supper must be thy gift, O Lord ! I am 
the guest of God and the Prophet ! " As I was dressed in 
Frank costume, I was frequently followed by some of these 
importunate beggars, who had accumulated a scanty English 
vocabulary for the occasion : " Christian ! good Christian ! O 
Christian ! I am seeking my supper from God ! " Some of 
these beggars go about chanting verses, sometimes beating a 
cymbal or a kettle drum; sometimes they are seen on horse- 
back. Lane tells us he saw one thus mounted, accompanied 
by two men bearing a flag, and a third beating a drum, and in 
this pompous manner he rode from hut to hut, asking for 
bread. 

The streets are passed ; we have run the gauntlet of the beg- 
gars — the din of the criers dies away in the distance. Vel- 
oome the hotel, our temporary home ! A long ride has given 
us a good appetite, and we will hasten to enjoy the evening 
meal. Do n't forget the donkey boy. He has more truth in 
him than a dozen like Hassan — sixty-two and a half cents and 
a backsheesh. 

February 17th. My first Sunday among Mohammedans. 
To one accustomed to spend the day in a Christian land, and 
in Christian worship, the scene seems strange indeed. The 
Mohammedan Sabbath comes on Friday, the Jew's on Satur- 
day, and the Christian's on Sunday. Here I am, in a place 
where three Sundays come in succession, and the result is a 
verification of the old adage, "Extremes meet," for we have 
no Sunday at all. The Mohammedan Sabbath is but little 



172 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



regarded. The bazars are all open, the mechanic plies his 
instruments of labor, the fellah betakes himself to his accus- 
tomed pursuits, and loaded camels and donkeys march hither 
and thither with their burdens. The mosques are open an hour 
at noon, and yet but few take any notice of the call to prayer. 
Of Christians and Jews, there are so few that the suspension of 
their business upon their sacred days is scarcely noticed among 
the busy multitudes of the great city. ISTever did I so much 
appreciate, or so well understand the feelings of the Psalmist, 
when he longed for the courts of the Lord, as I did while stop- 
ping in these Mohammedan lands. 

ATTENDING WORSHIP. 

But there is worship this morning at the chapel of the 
English Mission, under the care of the Eev. Mr. Leider, and at 
the American Mission this afternoon, under the care of Rev. 
Mr. B,arnet. Some of the English and American boarders 
will attend with us, and show us the way. These places of 
worship are both in the Christian or Copt part of the city, and 
are portions of a common dwelling-house, fitted up with seats 
and desk for the occasion. The chapel of the English Mission 
is entered from a central court, like most of the houses of the 
city ; the building is a rude one, and truly oriental in style. 
The three sides from which light is admitted is nearly all sash 
and glass, much like our green-houses, so constructed as to 
slide or turn on hinges, that they may be opened for the free 
admission of air. Fires are never needed, so no provision is 
made for warming; the great object of building here, is to 
keep the heat out, and secure the free admission of air. 
About fifty persons were in attendance. The service was 
Episcopal, and was followed by an excellent sermon. 

The American Mission is under the patronage of the Asso- 
ciate Presbyterians, their rooms being in the same part of the 
city. The attendance at their service was quite small. An 
excellent sermon was preached by Rev. Mr. Bliss, an agent of 
the American Bible Society, who has spent many years in 
Greece and Turkey. These missionaries are a self-denying, 
devoted class of persons, but they have a sterile field upon 



A SABBATH EVENING. 



173 



wbich to labor. Still, they are sowing good seed — some of it is 
taking root, and like leaven in the meal, it will yet produce 
astonishing results. 

A REFLECTION, AND NEW ACQUAINTANCES. 

I returned in musing mood to my hotel. There was none of 
the holy calm and quiet stillness of the Sabbath of rest. I^"ever 
was I so deeply impressed with the value of the hallowed 
influence of the " Pearl of Days," as when on this occasion I 
looked out upon the toiling thousands about me. All the week, 
all the month, all the year — ay, through life's weary pilgrim- 
age — they toil on, the shadowy clouds of care and anxiety 
hanging over them, without any openings through which to 
catch the glimpses of the radiance of God's glory and sweet 
foretastes of heavenly rest. I thought of what one of my 
own countrymen says of this blessed day, when he compares it 
to a man swimming the mighty stream, and who stops, pant- 
ing, to rest upon some midway rock, ere he plunges again into 
the tide. So, by this day, lifted above the tumult of earthly 
care, we rest and gain strength, before we go down again into 
the dark ford, to make another struggle for the farther shore. 

Though I was compelled to spend this Sabbath day far from 
home and kindred, deprived of the hallowed associations in 
which I was accustomed to mingle, it yet brought with it one 
pleasant and interesting event. Up to this point I had made 
my journey alone. This, as the result of my experience thus 
far, I would never recommend any one to do. Secure one or 
two — and two will be preferable — good traveling companions 
before you leave home. It will make cheaper traveling, be- 
sides relieving the tediousness and loneliness of the way. This 
evening I was gratified in being permitted to make the ac- 
quaintance of two American gentleman who had just come 
into the place — Eev. Edward P. Baker of Massachusetts, and 
A. C. Herrick, a theological student and teacher, from Maine. 
They were pursuing the same route as myself, and we hence- 
forth became traveling companions. 

Amid the vociferations of street criers, the din of business, 
the clamor of servants, donkey boys and camel drivers, the 



174 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



weary hours of the Sabbath wore away. It was evening, and I 
was alone in my room. The sun had sunk away behind the 
Lybian hills, and the shadows of twilight were gathering thick 
and fast around me. However cheerful and pleasant compan- 
ions may be, there is a holy luxury in sometimes being alone; 
and alone at such an hour as this — and yet I was not alone. I 
was in a land that had made strange history for the world, and 
visions of the past flitted around me. I saw Abraham, the 
venerable old man, on his visit to the court of Pharaoh ; Joseph 
rose up in the dim visions of the past, and I saw old Jacob, his 
father, expiring in his arms; then Moses, with his wonder-work- 
ing rod, came and joined the group. But not the renowned 
only of ancient days, who had graced this land with their 
presence — the scene changed — the loved of former days were 
around me, absent friends came on light and cheerful wing to 
greet me, and I held sweet converse with them. And then I 
seemed lifted above them all. The heavens were bending to- 
ward me, and the glory of God kindled them with an unearth- 
ly radiance. It was a season of fond remembrances — of sanc- 
tified thought — of holy prayer ! 0, how much of life — of the 
past — of the present — of the future — may be crowded into one 
hour of calm, peaceful, twilight contemplation and prayer ! 

THE RUINED CITY OF THE PHARAOHS. 

Monday Morning^ Feb. 17th. We have slept safely and sweet- 
ly, because there is an eye that is never weary with watching, 
an outstretched arm that never tires in its protection. Already 
the sun is looking in cheerily at the window ; the city, like a 
great hive, greets us with the hum of its swarming occupants — 
let us hasten our breakfast, and away upon our day's excursion 
to Memphis. 

More than twenty donkey boys are waiting at the door, and 
we can have our choice. To-day I am not to go alone, as I 
V7ent to the pyramids ; my two new companions go with me ; 
and you, reader, will please make the fourth one of the party; 
it shall cost you nothing for a donkey, and I will show you all 
the sights of the place. Do n't you think it 's splendid riding 
on these little long-eared asses? How like a rocking-chair they 



A BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE. 



175 



go, tipping you backward and forward, as they clear three feet 
of distance at every bound ! And now we are passing 

AN EGYPTIAN PALM GROVE. 

'No groves that I have ever seen exceed the beauty of these 
palm plantations. Of course there are a great variety of palm 
trees. These are the date palm, and produce the fruit that 
forms quite a portion of the food of the dwellers in this valley. 
These groves are planted in rows like our orchards. It is sur- 
prising what a variety of purposes the tree serves, and how use- 
ful it is made. The trunk, from twelve to eighteen inches in 
diameter, rises in a single shaft or column, generally between 
thirty and forty feet, sometimes as high as sixty, and is of uni- 
form size from bottom to top. The summit of this majestic 
trunk is surmounted by a beautiful crown of leaves. Every 
part of the tree seems to be put to some good use. From the 
long trunks beams are made to support the floors and roofs of 
their houses; an intoxicating beverage is distilled from the 
fruit, and which, not coming within the interdiction of the 
Koran, is much used among the Mohammedans. Palm wine is 
made from the sap, but can only be procured by destroying the 
life of the tree, consequently very little of it is made. The 
cabbage of the palm is found in the center of the tuft of foli- 
age that crowns its top. It is the tender germ of the future 
leaves, tastes much like a chestnut, and is very nutritious. To 
take this away also destroyes the life of the tree. The fibrous 
parts of the bark and wood are manufactured into cordage, 
mats, baskets and various other articles. The leaves are also 
very useful, and a great variety of articles are manufactured 
from them. But its annual tribute of fruit is what renders it 
most valuable, and the failure of the date crop is one of the 
greatest calamities that can befall the land. So useful are their 
products, and so high an estimate is set upon them, every single 
tree is a subject for special taxation, and pays its annual tribute 
to the Pasha, for the support of the government. The tree is 
ornamental as well as useful. They are the most beautiful and 
striking objects of all the landscape scenery of Egypt. The 



176 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



grove through which we are now passing is a very extensive 
one, spreading over several miles of territory. 

MEMPHIS, THE NOPH OP SCRIPTURE. 

A ride of from twelve to fifteen miles in a northwestern di- 
rection from Cairo was soon passed. Pleasant and cheerful 
company, the beauty of the groves, the' luxurious vegetation, 
the mild and balmy air, all conspired to add to the pleasure of 
the ride. And now we are approaching the site of the ancient 
city. What do you see? Before us an elevated portion of land, 
covered with palm trees, and just here one of those miserable 
Arab villages of mud huts and ragged, wretched inmates. 
This miserable village is a modern alFair, called Metrahenny ; 
and strange as it may seem, we are now upon the very ground 
where once stood the populous and magnificent city of the 
Pharaohs. This spot was once covered by a dense population, 
and ornamented with costly temples and palaces. 

The Copts called it Momph, the Egyptians called it Ma- 
nofre, and this is the name by which it is known among the 
hieroglyphics. It was one of the oldest cities of the world, and 
is supposed to have been founded by Menes, the first Egyptian 
king. But what is there to show that this was once the site 
of a flourishing city? Look across yonder to the edge of the 
desert and to those hills that mark the boundary of the vallev, 
and look upon that great city of the dead. There stand the 
pyramids of Sakkara, and about them, stretching away for 
miles, reaching northward to the great pyramids of Gizeh, that 
sea of sands is one great winding sheet, beneath which have 
been entombed thousands and thousands of the dead. From 
whence- came the countless multitudes that slumber here, if 
there has not been in this immediate vicinity a great city of 
the living? 

A few years since, had one been asked where the ancient city 
of the Pharaohs stood, he would have been answered, Proba- 
bly here, but none can tell." Ancient historians had spoken 
of the existence of certain remarkable monuments in connec- 
tion with the city, but where these were, none could now tell, 
and the very site of the city was a matter of dispute. Since 



A RUINED CITY. 



177 



the commencement of modern researches in this land, a beauti- 
ful colossal statue was discovered here, nearly buried in the 
mud and earth. It proved to be one described by Herodotus, 
connected with one of the great temples of Memphis. This 
discovery settled beyond controversy the site of the ancient 
city. 

It is a wonder to many how a city of such great dimensions, 
containing such vast edifices, temples and statues, should be so 
utterly destroyed. It should be remembered, that by far the 
greater portion of the buildings of these cities were of unburnt 
bricks, a mixture of Mle mud and straw. "When deserted, they 
would quickly be reduced to a shapeless mass of mud that 
would soon be covered by a growth of vegetation. The tem- 
ples and palaces of stone were more durable, but were pillaged 
and wasted by war; the work of destruction thus commenced 
would soon be consummated by the removal of every useful 
portion to form a part of the edifices of more modern towns. 
The heavy portions that could not so easily be removed, would 
soon become imbedded in the yielding earth, the I^ile would 
leave its deposits over and around them, and thus the city 
would vanish from the sight, and ere long perish from the re- 
membrance of man. 

THE HISTORY OF MEMPHIS, OR NOPH. 

We have spoken of its antiquity ; let us recall a few incidents 
in its subsequent history. The prophet Ezekiel was inspired 
to proclaim the destruction of the place. "Thus saith the 
Lord, I will destroy the idols, and I will cause the images to 
cease out of I^oph." Ez. xxx 13. Jeremiah also saw the 
approaching hand of destruction. "!N'oph shall be waste 
and desolate without an inhabitant." xlvi 19. These pro- 
phetic declarations were uttered when the city sat in majesty 
upon the banks of this river, the crown of her pride unbroken, 
the splendor and magnificence of her wealth un dimmed. 

The destruction of this city was to come out of the north, 
and was to be by the hand of the king of Babylon. "Declare 
ye in Egypt, ^ ^ * and publish in IToph, >i< ^ for 
the sword shall devour round about thee. Destruction 
11 



178 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



cometh, it cometh out of tlie north. The Lord of Hosts, the 
God of Israel saith : Behold, I will punish the multitude of l^o 
and Pharaoh and Egypt, with their gods and their kings. And 
I will deliver them into the hand of I^ehuchadnezzar, king of 
Bahylon. Jer. xlvi. 

The victorious king of Babylon, about six hundred years be- 
fore Christ, having ravaged J erusalem and conquered Tyre, led 
his army into Egypt. Through all his course from Migdol, on 
the southern frontier, to the very borders of Ethiopia, ruin and 
devastation marked his course. Memphis was invaded, the 
pride of Egypt was humbled, her king degraded, the city and 
tombs ravaged and plundered. At the expiration of forty 
years, Memphis had mostly recovered from this desolating 
siege. 

Soon after this, Cambyses led his army of Persians into 
Egypt, and Memphis was again besieged and laid waste. From 
this ruinous blow it never recovered, though it continued for 
many years to be the capital of Lower Egypt, until its rival, 
Alexandria, despoiled it of this honor. Its halls were deserted, 
its temples fell into ruins, magnificent edifices were torn down, 
and the materials carried away. So great a cit}^ could not be 
suddenly annihilated. Standing so near the banks of the Mle, 
no doubt its beds of hewn and sculptured stone afibrded mate- 
rials for many years for the modern cities along the river. 
Even as late as 1342, we read of very extensive ruins here, but 
they have gradually disappeared. Great mounds of earth, 
mixed with broken pottery, a few pieces of broken statuary 
and sculptured idols, that have been picked up here and there 
by the natives, and this 

GREAT STATUE OF REMESES II. 

Is all that remains to tell where so much greatness, wealth 
and power once flourished. Let us approach and examine this 
fallen monument. It stood upon a great pedestal, around which 
the ruins had accumulated to the depth of several feet; from 
this the colossal statue lifted its gigantic form forty-three feet 
high — the figure of a man, the face supposed to be a likeness of 
Kemeses, to whose memory it seems to have been erected. It is 



A MAJESTIC STATUE. 



179 



carved from one single block of silicious limestone, very hard, 
and susceptible of a fine polish. The front of the statue only 
was finished, the rear portions of the block being left in a rough 
state. Around the neck hangs an amulet or breastplate, on 
which is traced the royal name of the king, supported on one 
side by the god Pthah, the image of creative power ; on the 
other, by the emblem of Truth. Around the waist is a girdle ; 
on the center and at the side of this girdle are affixed the royal 
prenomen. In his hand he holds a scroll, bearing at one end 
his name, Amun-mai-Eemeses ; at his feet, standing at one side, 
reaching a little above the knees, is sculptured from the same 
block the figure of a little girl, said to be his daughter. 

Thus the statue stood, lifting its majestic form in towering 
altitude, like a great presiding deity of the place. How is it 
now ? Alas, how fallen 1 It has been broken off at the base, 
and lies face downward, half-buried in a dirty pool of water, 
and during the inundations of the Mle, is nearly overflowed. 
A half-dozen naked Arab children were indulging in a bath — 
it could hardly be called an ablution — in the dirty pool of water 
at its base. As we came suddenly upon them, they shrieked 
and ran like frightened animals; some of them, in their terror, 
leaving their scanty wardrobe behind, and it was sometime be- 
fore we could coax them to return. The head lies sufficiently el- 
evated, turned a little to one side, to get a good view of the face. 
It bears a sweet expression of mildness and amiability, though 
the sculpture is certainly of a very rude kind, far from the dig- 
nit}^ and grace of the more modern Grecian school. 

MOVING IMMENSE BLOCKS OP STONE. 

isTow let us sit down upon this prostrate image, and see if we 
can reconstruct some of the ancient edifices, and trace the out- 
lines of some of the wonderful and instructive places that for- 
merly adorned this now ruined locality. First mark the enor- 
mous size of this sculptured block of stone upon which we are 
sitting. By what Titan power was it brought from its far dis- 
tant quarry and reared on end upon that great pedestal? I 
have often heard it remarked that the ancient Egyptians, ex- 
ceeded in mechanical skill and power, to move heavy masses the 



180 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



men of modern days. As to their skill, they certainly had 
great ingenuity and capacity; but it was the skill of power 
rather than taste and beauty. Their works were colossal, 
as their ruins attest, but they are far from possessing the grace 
and beauty of modern days. As to the superiority of their 
power, what proof have we that they excelled us in that ? I 
have frequently seen it asserted, that modern nations have no 
machinery, and that there is no known power, by which such 
immense masses of stone can now be moved, as the ancient 
Egyptians took from the quarries, and elevated in their monu- 
ments. One recent traveler thinks that modern times are much 
given to boasting, and have achieved some very surprising ex- 
hibitions of mechanical skill; but he is sure that there is noth- 
ing so astonishing, and yet so little known, as the means by 
which the genius of ancient Egyptian architects accomplished 
these works. Another, as he stands by Cleopatra's i^eedle, and 
gazes upon its towering shaft, asks : " By what means did the 
ancients raise it to a perpendicular position, then elevate it 
twelve feet, the hight of the base, and bring it exactly over the 
inverted pyramid on which it rests, and set it accurately down 
upon its resting place? Nothing compared with this has been 
achieved by modern mechanics^' 

But what are the facts in the case? I would not detract 
from the ancient Egyptians the credit due them for moving im- 
mense masses of stone. But can modern architects not do it as 
well as they? The huge mass of stone upon which we are now 
sitting is forty-two feet long, and from six to eight feet in di- 
ameter ; the shaft of the obelisk at Heliopolis is sixty-eight feet 
high, and a little over six feet at the base. Cleopatra's Is'eedle 
at Alexandria is a little higher, and about seven feet at the 
base. E'ow, at the very time the gentlemen whose contrast of 
^ ancient and modern power we have alluded to, were gazing at 
Cleopatra's ]N"eedle, there was standing in the Place de la Con- 
corde, Paris, an obelisk consisting of a single shaft of granite 
seventy-two feet three inches high, and seven feet six inches at 
the base. This immense mass of stone was given by Moham- 
med Ali to the French, and was taken by them from one of 
the great temples at Thebes, then removed from Upper 




OBELISK OF LUXOR REMOVED FROM UPPER EGYPT, 
now standino- in Place de la Concorde, Paris. 



KEMOyiNG MASSES OF STONE. 183 

Egypt to the Mediterranean, thence by transports to Marseilles, 
thence some six hundred miles to Paris, where it now stands 
upon a pedestal more than double the hight of the one on 
which Cleopatra's I^eedle stands. True, its removal was a her- 
culean work, and three years were spent in accomplishing it ; 
but it was done, and probably could and would have been done 
had it been even more gigantic. Of this obelisk we give an en- 
graving. Models of the machinery by which the immense mass 
was erected, are now preserved in the museum of the Louvre. 

This is also proved by the obelisks that have been transported 
to Rome. The obelisk which now stands in front of the Vatican 
is eighty-two feet six inches high, and eight feet ten inches at 
the base. It was brought from Egypt by the ancient Romans, 
and was found by the Italians in the ruins of the Circus of 
I^ero. It was set up in its present place in 1586. When it was 
determined to remove it to its present position, it is said no less 
than five hundred plans were submitted to the Pope by differ- 
ent architects. The work was at last entrusted to Domenico 
Tantana. There were employed in the work six hundred men, 
one hundred and forty horses, and nearly fifty cranes, the cost 
being nearly forty thousand dollars. 

But even this was outdone. Another of these obelisks that 
was removed to Rome now stands in front of the Lateran 
Church. This seems to be the king of all the obelisks. The 
single monolithic shaft, after a portion was taken off to accom- 
modate it to its present place, is one hundred and five feet 
seven inches high, and the base nearly ten feet in diameter. 
The obelisk at Paris weighs five hundred thousand pounds ; this 
one, nine hundred thousand; and there it stands in a modern city, 
set up by the skill of modern architects. But how we have 
wandered from Memphis. Pardon me, I was only vindicating 
the power and skill of modern nations. I do not believe the 
ancient Egyptians, or any other ancient nation, excelled us. 
Modern architects can move as heavy masses of stone as any 
people have ever moved. 

The country about us for nine miles in extent was covered 
by this great city. The statue upon which we are now sitting, 
with others about it, marked the site of a magnificent temple. 



184 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



It was dedicated to Ptah, their ideal image of the Omnipotent 
Creative Power. Here, too^ divine honors were paid to 

THE BULL APIS 

Here he was kept in a magnificent inclosure and treated as 
a god. The pecuharities that distinguished him was a white 
mark on his forehead, and some other small spots on his body, 
the rest being black. He was kept in great honor and pomp 
until he died ; then his body was embalmed and placed in one 
of the immense mummy pits of which we have before spoken. 
Priests appointed for the purpose were then sent through the 
land to look out his successor, and when one was found bear- 
ing the requisite marks, he was immediately installed wdth 
great ovations, banquets and demonstrations of joy, in the place 
of his predecessor. 

Plutarch says Apis was a fair and beautiful image of the 
soul of Osiris. Mnevis, the sacred ox of Heliopolis, was also 
dedicated to Osiris, and both received the highest honors of 
their worship. Mnevis was dedicated to the sun ; Apis to the 
moon. Pliny says he was not only looked upon as an emblem, 
but was deemed by the Egyptians a god. Here an immense con- 
course of people annually assembled together, and a grand seven 
days' festival w^as held in his honor. The priests led him about 
in solemn pomp, and all the people shouted and did him rever- 
ence as he passed. When his death took place, a public lam- 
entation was instituted, and continued till his successor was 
found. Apis, according to Pliny, was not permitted to live but 
twenty-five years. If nature prolonged his existence till that 
age, he w^as taken to the fountain of the priests and drowned, 
the act being accompanied with pompous ceremonies. His fu- 
neral obsequies when dead were no less imposing and costly 
than the honors paid him while living. It is said that some- 
times the enormous amount of one hundred talents were ex- 
pended on the funeral of a single beast. Magnificent temples 
of other gods covered and adorned the country around us. A 
gorgeous temple was consecrated to Yenus; another one to 
Serapis. Here, too, were the temple and sacred grove of Pro- 
teus ; enormous statues, beautiful sculptures, paved areas, and 



THE TKIAL OF THE DEAD. 



185 



avenues of sphinxes, adorned and beautified the place. While 
in imagination we rear up these demolished walls, set up these 
fallen statues, and walk through these gorgeous temples, we in- 
voluntarily exclaim : How was it possible that such complete 
desolation could have been wrought?" 

THELAKEANDTHEDEAD. 

Eecall once more the wandering imagination, and cast the 
eye along yonder plain, skirted by the sandy desert beyond. 
Here was the famous Acherusian lake; now a solitary marsh 
and a dirty pool of water are all that remain. Here was a 
beautiful sheet of Avater, fed by canals, its shores ornamented by 
shady groves and beautiful parks. These were the waters 
over which the dead were ferried to yonder tombs and sepul- 
chres, the number and multitude of which attest what swarms 
of the living must once have been congregated about us. To 
this lake the mummied corpse was brought. Forty-two per- 
sons, constituted judges, ranged themselves around the remains 
of the departed one. " Has any one aught to allege against 
the character of the deceased?" In the scales of justice his life 
was balanced. If it was proved he had spent a life of dissipa- 
tion and vice, transit was denied him till his friends could atone 
for him. Those Ely si an Fields and those quiet shades of the 
departed were for the good alone. If accepted, the ferryman 
received the pious freight and bore it beyond the flood. It was 
these Egyptian funeral rites that gave rise to the beautiful fa- 
bles, that were afterwards refined and improved by the Greeks, 
of the river Styx, Charon and his boat, and the Elysian Fields. 

Many of these singular customs connected with the dead, 
might afibrd us lessons of instruction now. When the dead 
were placed on trial, any person that chose might bring an ac- 
cusation. If none were brought, or those made were refuted, 
justification by the judges was received by the relatives with 
loud demonstrations of applause. If the body was rejected, 
the relatives retired, feeling most keenly the shame and reproach 
under which they suffered. 

Some were rejected in consequence of immorality of life, 
some in consequence of debts left unpaid. They could not be 



186 EGYPT AND SINAI. 

allowed to pass to the shades of their fathers with the odium 
of unpaid debts resting upon them. Rejected bodies were 
taken back to their desolate homes, and the coffins kept in 
various places of deposit, until, by a long series of religious rites, 
sacrifices and offerings upon the part of relatives, their sins had 
been expiated, or, if debtors, until their children had accumu- 
lated enough to liquidate the demands ; then they were allowed 
to be transferred to the everlasting habitations of the dead. 

These obsequies of the dead seem to have been emblematic 
of their ideas of future judgment and retribution. I saw in 
Dr. Abbott's museum in ^N'ew York, a magnificent funeral pa- 
pyrus roll, twenty- two feet long, taken from one of the very 
tombs of yonder great cemetery. It is most beautifully written 
in small hieroglyphics, containing a history of the life of the 
deceased, finely ornamented with a number of illustrations or 
illuminated sketches, representing remarkable events in the life 
of the person, and some of the future scenes through which 
he is supposed to pass. In one of these is a beautiful gilt rep- 
resentation of the sacred bull. The deceased is held supported 
by two or more gods. In another place in the roll is a picture 
of the Hall of the Two Truths, with the god Osiris sitting in 
judgment, assisted by the forty-two judges, standing near him. 
Before him appears the soul of the deceased, accompanied by 
Auubis, the guardian of the tombs, and the Ibis-headed god 
Thoth. This god has been writing down the history of the 
departed, and has collected all his good deeds. The result is 
made known by the god Thoth to Osiris, who awards such 
punishment as he and his forty-two assistants deem best. 

'Eo position of wealth or rank purchased exemption from 
the stem award of these forty- two judges. The king and the 
beggar must alike stand the test. Diodorus tells us of Egyp- 
tian monarchs having been condemned by this tribunal, and 
their bodies refused a ferriage across these waters. 'Nor was 
this without effect on their successors. It made them stand in 
awe of so disgraceful a censure after death. The dreaded 
stigma attached to it often promoted virtuous conduct and 
created a laudable ambition to secure the good opinion of their 
subjects. That la.ke, and those judgment scenes, have lessons 



AN ATFECTHsTG MEETING. 



187 



for us. Yiviclly do they remind ns of the Christian's Jordan 
of death, and of our transit to the presence of the great Judge 
of all the earth, and the solemn awards of an impartial tri- 
bunal. But this was not merely a city of gods, and temples, 
and statutes ; here was 

THE PALACE OF THE PHARAOHS. 

In this, the capital of Lower Egypt, these renowned princes 
held their court. From where we now sit went out the law 
that governed the land. Here princely banquets were held, 
and royal processions marched in regal pomp. Ay, this very 
block of stone on which we now sit was the representative of 
one of these royal monarchs. He, like his throne, his kingdom 
and country, has fallen. Alas, how changed the scene ! Again 
history lifts the vail, and the strange records of the past are 
floating by. Here Joseph was exalted and honored. How 
strangely these Hebrews have been elevated into power in 
different lands, and at the courts of different kings. J oseph, in 
Egypt; Daniel, in Babylon; Ezra, in the court of Cyrus; 
I»^ehemiah, in the palace of Shushan ; Esther, in the royal 
chamber of Ahasuerus. God's people have never failed to 
have a friend at court, when it has been necessary for their 
comfort or protection — yes, and they have an ever-living one 
at the great court of the universe, who has power to prevail for 
them. 

JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN. 

Eear up again the walls of yonder palace, that stood just on 
that eminence before us, where those palm trees give shade to 
that 'miserable Arab hut. Look in through the open gate and 
witness the scene that is transpiring there. Eleven rough 
looking strangers are gathered around the prime minister of 
Egypt. He looks angrily upon them, and speaks harshly to 
them. They are accused of deception and perfidy. Indeed, 
the silver cup had been found in the sack of Benjamin the 
younger, and him the stern authoritative prince threatens to 
detain. He was the youngest son of a doting father, and his 
brothers well knew the struggling emotions of the old man's 
heart at parting with him, and the fears he had expressed that 



188 



EGYPT AiS^D SIXAI. 



lie should see Mm no more. Jiidali, tlie elder brotlier, now 
stands forth to plead their cause. The solemn pledge he had 
given his father that he would bring Benjamin with him. made 
him earnest : the fears and anxieties that agitated his breast, 
made him elocjuent. Ty^hat an earnest plea I How ingenuous ! 
how touching I how pathetic I my lord I let thy servant. 
I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine 
anger burn against thy servant, for thou art even as Pharaoh." 
He then rehearses in plain and simple language the account of 
their former visit, and how they had been denied another 
audience, unless Benjamin was with them. '-And our father 
said, go again, and buy us a little food. And we said, we 
cannot go down if our younger brother is not with us. And 
thy servant my father said unto us : Te know how that my 
wife bare me two sons, and the one went out from me, and I 
said, surely he is torn to pieces, and I saw him not since. And 
if ye ask this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall 
bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. I^ow, 
therefore, when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad 
be not with us, seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life, 
it shall come to pass, when he seeth the lad is not with us, that 
he will die : and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs 
of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave. How shall 
I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me ? lest perad- 
venture I see the evil that shall come upon my father." 

His plea was unaffected, unstudied, unadorned. He supposed 
he was addressing an utter stranger to his father's family ; and 
had he been a stranger, would not the appeal have been suffi- 
cient to touch the heart imbued with the comnnon feelings of 
humanity ? Little did he know whom he was addressing I 
Little did he imagine how those tender allusions to a father's 
gray hairs, and a father's bitter sorrows, were awakening in 
that prime minister remembrances of childhood and youth, 
kindling anew the glow of filial aff'ection, and stirring to pro- 
foundest depths the living fountains of a yearning heart. 

Joseph could refrain himself no longer. The fountain was 
full. He cried, Cause every man to go out from me ; and he 
stood alone with his brethren. ''I am Joseph; doth my 



A SINGULAR PROVIDENCE. 



189 



father yet live?" And he wept aloud ; and the Egyptians and 
the house of Pharaoh heard him. And he fell upon his brother 
Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck* 
Where in all the annals of human events is there a more strik- 
ing picture of brotherly affection than this ? IN'ature, unadorned, 
undisguised, giving unfeigned and truthful utterance to her 
emotions. How strange it seems, to be standing upon the very 
soil that witnessed that affecting meeting of Joseph and his 
brethren ! But stranger events than that have transpired upon 
this very spot, and even within the walls of that palace we are 
now contemplating. God makes the wrath of man praise him, 
and even the enemies of his people the instruments of advanc- 
ing the cause of truth and righteousness. From the waters of 
yonder river, the daughter of a proud monarch rescues a per- 
ishing Hebrew infant. 

THE CHILD MOSES 

Is brought into this very palace. Here he is reared up in 
the midst of the associations of wealth, royalty, and all the 
pomp and pageantry of idolatrous worship. Here he spent his 
boyhood. Here and in yonder city of the priests — the City of 
the Sun, we have before visited — he was educated, and became 
learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. But the sophisms 
of their philosophy, the arts of their magicians, and the vailed 
mysteries of their priests, could not annihilate in that young 
heart the love of his kindred, the knowledge of the true God, 
his maker and preserver. Buried for a season this purer knowl- 
edge and these holier instincts might have been ; but like a liv- 
ing germ, implanted by the hand of Divinity, they sprung up, 
and took deep root in the soil of his sanctified heart. They 
flourished the more vigorousl}^ as they lifted themselves above 
the rotten systems of philosophy and religion that surrounded 
them. 

Forty years he shared the honors, the privileges, the emolu- 
ments, the luxuries of one of the most renowned and powerful 
courts of the world. But a great question was to be settled, 
and the time for a decision had come. I wonder if it was not 
just here where we are sitting, under the overshadowing walls 



190 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



of this great heathen temple, he came, pondering the great 
question that, like a crushing burden, was pressing him down? 
It was in faith his mother laid him in the bulrushes. That holy 
faith of a mother's heart had taken root in his own, and with 
mighty throes was now struggling for the victory: "I am the 
son of Pharaoh's daughter. Yonder palace may be mine. The 
scepter of power, the honors of royalty, the emoluments and 
luxuries of a regal home, are all Avithin my reach. Can I give 
them up? Yonder are my people, my kindred; I know the 
bitterness of their bondage ; how the earth is stained with their 
blood and watered with their tears. Can I become deaf to the 
groans of my kindred? Can I renounce the faith of my fath- 
ers? Can I deny the mother that bore me?" He bows his 
head and buries his face in the folds of his garment. His 
strong frame trembles with the heaving emotions that, like a 
pent up volcano, convulse his heart. It is but for a moment. 
Faith triumphs I TTith a calm serenity of countenance, a 
fixed and holy purpose of heart, he stands a conqueror before 
us. The conclusion is given in the words of inspiration : "By 
faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called 
the son of Pharaoh's daughter: choosing rather to suffer afflic- 
tion with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin 
for a season." "Farewell, ye temples of the gods! I have 
chosen and will serve a God who shall lay you even with the 
dust. Farewell, palace and court I I seek the honors of a king- 
dom that shall endure when thy thrones and monuments, thy 
mighty pyramids, yea, the great world itself, shall have perished 
forever." 

M OSES' RETURN TO THIS COURT. 

Forty years Moses was an exile from the land of his birth. 
He led his flocks in the wilderness: and in the solitude of the 
desert he communed with God. It was a great change from 
princely associations with priests and courtiers, to a monotonous 
attendance upon the flocks of Jethro, in the desolate regions of 
Sinai. But he had voluntarily made his choice, and was con- 
tent with his home and occupation. The forty years of Moses' 
exile had expired. "What changes had taken place in these 



MOSES BEFOKE PHARAOH. 



191 



princely mansions none can now tell. But here the king of the 
land still held his court. Here Moses, perhaps long forgotten, 
once more presents himself in the audience chamber of the 
monarch of the land. He was eighty years old; the vigor of 
undecayed manhood was in his step, the dignity of age adorned 
his brow. There was an expression in the whole aspect of the 
man that excited reverence and awe, and told in language that 
could not be misunderstood, that here was one who came 
neither to trifle or be trifled with. He well knew the arbitrary 
power of the monarch in whose presence he stood — that he 
might be spurned with contempt from the throne or ordered to 
execution. But he had not come with his strange commission 
from the burning bush, and from the astounding miracles of the 
trembling mount, to be overawed in the presence of man. 
Without apology or circumlocution, he performs his errand. 
"Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, let my people go." 

Then followed such a struggle between the hardness and 
stubbornness of a rebellious liuman heart, and the terrible ex- 
hibitions of power on the part of Almighty God, as was never 
before or has since been witnessed. Sitting here on this fallen 
statue, at the threshold of the very palace where Moses met 
the stern monarch of Egypt, how vividly the recollection of 
these things is awakened 1 How we seem to stand in the very 
midst of the plagues that smote a rebellious people ! Here 
Moses casts down his rod and it becomes a serpent, swallowing 
up the rods of the astonished magicians. See yonder river, a 
frightful flood of purple gore; swarms of frogs arising from 
the waters; lice, flies and locusts troubling and devouring the 
land. Hear the rattling hail as it smites man and beast, when 
the heavens shook with, awful thunders, and fearful lightnings 
ran along the ground. Stand in the midst of the gloomy dark- 
ness that enveloped court, palace, city and all the land; hear the 
wailings that come up from all these numerous dwellings over 
their first born, smitten by the angel of death. The magicians 
of the land were outdone and confounded; they said: "This 
is the finger of God." Here Jehovah taught the impotency of 
all the false and idol gods of Egypt. He vindicated his own 



192 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



omnipotence. Pharaoh was overawed and humbled, and God's 
people escaped from the oppressor. What 

INSTRUCTIVE LESSONS. 

What strange sensations one feels in walking over these ruins 
of former times ! Here are great mounds, beneath which lie 
the wrecks of costly palaces and magnificent temples, with their 
altars and their gods. Here all was vocal with the hum of life, 
and halls and streets echoed to the tramp of countless multi- 
tudes, ^^ow the solitary palm trees make doleful music as the 
stray winds of heaven play among their branches. A few reck- 
less Arabs wander here and there in stolid indifterence of the 
past or the future. They have picked up from the ruins a few 
fragments of mutilated heads, feet and hands of sculptured 
idols, in hopes of gathering a few piasters by their exhibition 
to the inquisitive traveler; little thinking that the pile of ruins 
they have thus gleaned are a standing comment on the pro- 
phetic declaration of God's word : " The idols of [N'oph shall 
be broken." 

And thou, fallen and ruined statue, from which I have been 
permitted to survey this place ! "What changes thou hast seen? 
Temples, palaces and gods have crumbled to dust around thee; 
thy fellows that held companionship with thee have perished ; 
and thou, too, hast fallen, never again to rise. Seated upon thy 
prostrate form, what lessons I have been taught ! The weak- 
ness and folly of man, the vanity of human greatness and 
pride, the power, glory and wisdom of Almighty God, have all 
passed before me. Farewell ! Farewell ! Thy grave is dug ; 
the storms of heaven have pillowed thy head upon the uncon- 
scious earth; the winds of heaven are bringing the sands of 
yonder desert, and wrapping them, like a winding sheet, about 
thee. Soon even thou, gigantic as thou art, the only remaining 
monument of this once powerful and opulent city, will be seen 
no more. Thanks for the lessons thou hast taught me. I will 
bear them with me to my far off home in the distant West, and 
ponder them there. In imagination I shall often visit thee, and 
sitting here on thy ruined form trace the hand of God in what 
has transpired about thee; and looking out upon the blank 



EAKEWELL TO MEMPHIS. 



193 



that now exists where this great city once stood, read as upon 
a written tablet the great lessons the overruling providence of 
God has recorded here. Farewell ! 

THE RETURN. 

As we were about to leave the place, three or four repulsive 
looking Arabs, in scarecrow habiliments, made importunate 
overtures for a backsheesh for showing us what we could not 
avoid seeing. Perhaps they looked at it in the light of a tres- 
pass fee for walking over their grounds. We selected the one 
who appeared to be a sort of sheik among the rest, gave him a 
few piasters as a sort of peace offering, bade them good-bye, 
mounted our donkeys, turned our backs upon the ancient home 
of the Pharaohs, and retraced our steps through the beautiful 
palm groves towards Cairo. 



194 



EGYPT AND SINAI 



CHAPTER X. 

Mosques op Grand Cairo — Citadel and Massacre of the 
Mamalukes — Preparations for a Journey to Sinai. 

It is wortli something to the tourist, when lie plans his ar- 
rangements for the day, to know the skies will be propitious. 
Such is one of the privileges of this climate. As the songs of a 
thousand birds awake you from your slumbers, and the sun 
climbs his golden pathway, you feel that the gorgeous heavens 
are all his own domain. He ascends in majesty to the throne 
of day, and no pavilion of clouds attend his pathway. He rolls 
downward and sinks into the chambers of the west, and no 
great mountains of fleecy vapor are piled about him to reflect 
the glory of his parting rays. As we are sure of a pleasant 
day, and have a variety of interesting objects to visit, where 
shall I take you? 

A carriage drive. 

To-day there are several of us in company, and two ladies in 
the party; what mode of conveyance shall we choose? Here 
are plenty of donkeys, but none of them have ladies' equip- 
ments. The Egyptian ladies have a mode of riding very shock- 
ing to the refined taste of our advanced civilization. We will 
take a carriage — a luxury not often indulged in by Cairenes, 
and there are but few in the place. It is a long, aristocratic 
step, in this oriental city, from a donkey's back to a coach drawn 
by horses, driven by a swarthy, turban ed Arab, with a young 
stripling of the same stock to run behind you and act as valet. 
Though carriages are scarce, the expense after all is not great, 
compared witb our own cities. Three and a half to four dol- 
lars and a little backsheesh, will secure the whole establishment, 
little page and all, for the day. So jump in with us, and see 



MOHAMMEDAN WOESHIP. 



197 



what there is to be seen. We have been through the bazars, 
and around the crooked, narrow streets ; looked upon the strange, 
old houses, and gazed at wedding and funeral processions, and 
laughed at the queer looking costumes — where next? 

THE MOSQUES OF CAIRO 

Are one of its most striking peculiarities ; we will turn our 
attention first to them. The mosque is to the Moslem what the 
church or cathedral is to the Christian in Catholic countries, 
always open, and made a place of public prayer. Here the 
devout come at all times a day to perform their devotions. Fri- 
day is the Mohammedan sabbath, but the child of the Prophet 
does not on this day abstain from his ordinary work, except 
during the hour of prayer, about midday, and then the mosques 
are usually crowded. 

Cairo contains at least four hundred mosques. They are gen- 
erally built of stone, and to make them more attractive in ex- 
ternal appearance, the alternate layers are of different colors, 
first red, then white. If the mosque is large, it is built around 
a central square or court, like eastern dwellings. Around this 
court a portico is built, and in the center of it is a tank or foun- 
tain of water for ablution. A good supply of water seems to 
be considered indispensable among Mohammedans to purity of 
worship. For this reason, advantage is often taken of foun- 
tains of w^ater along public thoroughfares to erect oratories or 
places of prayer, that travelers stopping to refresh themselves 
may not only perform their ablutions, but their devotions. 
Structures are built over the fountains, and a platform raised 
with a little monument upon the end towards Mecca, that the 
worshipers may know which way to turn their faces when they 
kneel. 

The side of the building facing Mecca is the most important 
one ; the portico on this side is more spacious, and has one or 
two extra rows of columns. This side of the mosque is the 
place of prayer, and here is usually the main audience room. 
A niche in the wall marks the direction of Mecca, and in that 
direction the face of the worshipers are always turned. To the 
right of this niche stands the pulpit, and on the opposite side 
12 



198 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



of the room from this niche there is usually a raised platform, 
supported by small columns, on which is arranged a desk or 
table, upon which is kept a volume of the Koran, and from it, 
on various occasion, a chapter is read to the congregation. 
The interior of these mosques is usually quite plain. Over the 
columns running around the interior of the main room is a 
sort of entablature, looking much like the fronts of the galle- 
ries in our churches. These are ornamented with various de- 
vices, usually texts from the Koran, sometimes in stucco, some- 
times carved. 'No representations of animals or men or any 
thing that has life are allowed in their ornaments. The floors 
have no seats, and are covered with matting, to accommodate 
the kneeling worshipers. 

All distinctions of rank are laid aside in the mosque. The 
rich man may have a servant to bring in a prayer-carpet and 
spread it for him, but this is all. On these floors the rich and 
the poor pray side by side. ''And what respect and privilege 
are allowed the women," I hear you ask, " in these arrange- 
ments for the worship of the Prophet?" Did you ever know 
any but a Christian land where the daughters of Eve were 
treated as intelligent, immortal and accountable beings, bearing 
equally with the man the impress of Grod's Divine image? 
There is no prohibition in the Koran that shuts females out of 
the mosque, but they are taught it is better for them to pray in 
private. In some countries they are allowed to enter the 
mosques, but in Cairo no females or young boys are allowed to 
pray with the congregation in the mosques, or even to be pres- 
ent. Indeed, it is said females here seldom pray at all ! 

> MOSQUE OF AMER AND MOSQUE OP TAYLOON. 

The oldest Mohammedan temple in Egypt is the mosque of 
Amer, at Old Cairo. This was the site of the ancient Egyptian 
Babylon. It was erected about six hundred and fifty years 
after Christ, upon the spot where Amer, with his conquering 
Saracen forces, encamped, in the first subjugation of Egypt to 
the Moslem power. It now stands amid the mounds and rub- 
bish of the ruined houses that have fallen into decay around it. 
It is an object of interest and curiosity, as a monument of the 



MOSQUES OF GRAND CAIRO. 199 

architectural taste and skill of those ancient and semi-barbaric 
times. But that one we have not now time to visit. Let us 
turn our attention to those in the city through which we are 
now driving. Here is the next oldest mosque in Egypt — the 
mosque of Tayloon. 

Here we must ahght and enter. It is something to walk 
over pavements where Caliphs, mouarchs and military dictators 
walked more than one thousand years ago, and there is no diffi- 
culty now in entering a Moslem mosque in Grand Cairo, even 
though thou art a Frank and a Christian. Once it was not so ; 
these doors were all banned and barred, and no infidel could 
cross the threshold. Thanks to French influence and authority, 
and to Mohammed Ali, for a more liberal policy. One little 
ceremony, however, must not be forgotten — do not attempt to 
enter with your clumsy, thick- soled boots. Those devout at- 
tendants would lift up their hands in holy horror, and order 
you back as a polluter of their sanctuary. There are always a 
number of truckling parasites about the door, with a supply of 
shppers for Frank visitors. It would be a commendable act in 
them if they did it out of reverence for the sanctuarj^, but the 
cringing beggars only want a backsheesh . IsTever mind, a sin- 
gle piaster will satisfy them for the use of a pair. Slip them 
on and let us enter. 

This mosque was founded in the year 879, ninety years before 
any other part of the city was built. This is shown by two in- 
scriptions in ancient Cufic characters on a portion of the wall 
of one of the courts. Within the colonnades, along the cornice, 
above the arches, are ancient Cufic inscriptions on wood. The 
Arabic character it is said was adopted A. D. 950, but the Cufic 
continued to be used long after, and as late as 1508, both Arabic 
and Cufic were employed. 

One thing about this ancient structure of special interest to 
architects, is the pointed arches employed in its construction. 
The origin of the pointed arch, and what people first used it, 
has been a subject of controversy. This building it is said 
proves the existence of the pointed arch here three hundred 
years before its introduction into England. But what care we 
for the disputes of builders about the diflerent kinds of arches 



200 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



and the time of their invention ? Let us look about the mosque 
and be gone. Is there anything more to see? ^^othing of 
special interest in the interior. It is certainly a dirty, gloomy 
looking place. The dust of age and the mold of decay is 
over all its interior, and no pains seem to be taken to keep it 
clean or make it attractive. Perhaps these Moslems think no 
such aids to devotion are necessary. 

But let us ascend the minaret and look out upon the city. 
The ascent, unlike any other mosque we have seen, is an exte- 
rior spiral stairway. The exposure of a thousand years have 
well nigh ruined it. The stone steps are broken and crumbling, 
and the ascent dangerous. But once upon the top you are well 
repaid for the risk of the ascent. The mosque is upon an em- 
inence, and the minaret lifts you far above all surrounding 
buildings. The whole city lies at your feet, and you gaze long 
and earnestly upon the novel sight. And why was this an- 
cient structure built? 'Not merely for a place of worship. It 
is a tomb and a monument. In yonder consecrated corner, 
protected by an ornamental railing, repose the ashes of Gama 
Tayloon. He reigned from A. D. 868 to A. D. 884. Peace to 
his sleeping dust ! Earth opens her bosom and pillows alike 
upon her cold clay the head of the warrior and saint, the vas- 
sal and the slave. 

Get past the door the best you can, for it is not the poor me- 
nial alone who lent you the slippers that will want a back- 
sheesh. Where should beggars go for charity but to the door 
of the church ? and who is expected to give alms if it is not the 
man that prays ? Let us drive to 

THE MOSQUE OP SULTAN HASSAN. 

And what has this to distinguish it among the four hundred 
mosques of the city, that we have selected it for a special visit? 
It is said to be the most beautifal specimen of Arabian archi- 
tecture in Cairo, and some pronounce it the most perfect reli- 
gious structure in the country. It was built about A. D. 1350. 
The materials for its erection were procured by an act of van- 
dalism we can scarcely pardon. Yon mighty pyramid of 



MOSQUES OF GRxVND CAIKO. 



201 



Cheops was the quany whence these stones were brought. Its 
founder would not scruple to ruin a tomb to build a church. 

The usual slip-shod preparation must be observed before we 
enter, that the consecrated floor be not polluted with unholy dust. 
The interior eo much extolled is only beautiful as compared 
Avith similar structures of the city. It has symmetry of propor- 
tion, magnificent arches, and elaborateness of ornament. The 
arch on the side of the court towards Mecca has a span of over 
sixty-nine feet. Chains are suspended from the ceiling, on 
which are hung lamps of colored glass. But the whole interior 
has a dusty and neglected look, that speaks in unmistakable 
language of the want of refinement and taste that character- 
ize the Moslem votaries who congregate here. 

This mosque is also a mausoleum for the dead. In one por- 
tion of it is a spacious room, covered with a lofty dome of wood, 
and ornamented with various devices of plaster work. A space 
in the center is protected by a railing. It incloses the tomb of 
Sultan Hassan. On the head of the tomb is laid a large and 
splendid copy of the Koran, magnificently illuminated with 
golden colors. The inmate of that tomb was murdered in this 
very sanctuary by the Mamalukes, and the stains of his blood 
are still shown upon the beautifully tesselated marble pave- 
ment. 

There are several other mosques that are deemed worthy of 
special note, but we shall not have time to visit them. In none 
that I entered was there any thing to promote either cheerful- 
ness or devotion. There is over them all a melancholy air of 
neglect and decay, emblematic, I could not but think, of the 
downfall of an effete and decaying system of faith. Let us 
drive to 

THE CITADEL. 

And what is the citadel ? It is the fortress of the city, the 
tower of its defense, the depository of its munitions of war. 
It stands upon a hill, its massive, frowning walls overlooking, 
upon one side, the city ; upon the other, the great barren desert 
that stretches away towards the Red Sea. Let us first ascend 
yon elevated platform, and get a view of the city and surround- 



202 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



ing country. It is one of the finest that can be obtained. First 
cast your eye away across yonder to the edge of the Lybian 
desert, and see the time-defying pyramids, from the top of 
which we have before contemplated this land of the Pharaohs. 
Once more look up and down the winding pathway of the 'Nile, 
slowly weaving his serpentine folds through groves of palm 
and along green and flowery banks. Mark the numerous villa- 
ges of mud hovels scattered here and there over the plain. 
Then recall the wandering sight, and fix one Inng, earnest gaze 
upon the city of three hundred thousand inhabitants at your 
feet. Trace the circuitous course of the walls that inclose it, 
the great mosques that rise above the ruins that encircle them, 
the multitude of minarets that crown them all, one of the most 
marked and striking peculiarities of a Mohammedan land. 
How one's thoughts wander, as he thus looks over the land. 
He stands gazing like a statue, lost in dreamy abstraction, not 
at the grandeur or beauty of the scene, but in the mazes of the 
wonderful histories of the past. But we must not stand gazing 
from this elevated portion of the citadel; we came to see the in- 
terior of these old gray walls and towering battlements. 

Here is a splendid palace of the Pasha, to which he can fiee, 
and where he can shut himself up, when the invaders drive him 
from yonder beautiful gardens ©f Shoobra. Just by it is the 
harem, with beautiful fountains and miniature gardens. Around 
us, too, are the munitions of war. Here, too, trained bands, 
platoons, battalions and brigades perform their evolutions. 
Here cannon, swivel and howitzer stand ready balanced to wel- 
come the coming foe. Here fire-arms and side-arms, pike, lance 
and spear, bayonet, sword and cimeter, are all in readiness for 
the work of death. But there are two or three places to which 
we must pay a special visit. Let us take a look at 

JOSEPH'S WELL 

A citadel without water, in the time of siege, would be worse 
than the doom of Tantalus. The efforts to supply this place 
with that necessary beverage is certainly worthy of the presid- 
ing genius of the land, in the days of Theban temples and 
heaven-towering pyramids. Sultan Yoosef (Joseph) has the 



A WONDEKFUL WELL. 



203 



honor of originating the citadel about the year 1711. He took 
down the brick walls about the city and replaced them with 
stone. Seeing how easily the city could be defended from this 
elevated rock, he commenced the construction of a fortress 
here. In clearing away and grading the rock, he discovered 
this wonderful well. It had been dug by the ancients, when, 
none can tell, and was filled with sand and rubbish. This well 
is cut into the solid rock to the enormous depth of two hundred 
and sixty feet, and at the mouth, forty-five feet wide. Around 
the well is a winding stairway, cut also in the rock, with a par- 
tition wall of the rock left, two or three feet thick, between it 
and the well, with occasional holes for windows to look through 
into the main shaft. Any one who has been in the interior of 
Bunker Hill monument, will at once understand how this well 
is constructed. The open passage through the center of that 
structure corresponding to the well; the circular stairway 
winding round it to the descent here, cut in the rock, by which 
the bottom is reached. One of the curious things of the well 
is the manner of elevating the water. A large ox is taken 
down this winding stairway to near the bottom of the well, 
where one of the cogwheel machines we have before described 
for raising water is situated. The food is taken down to him, 
and he is kept here year after year. Here, deep in these lower 
regions, in perpetual darkness and solitude, the patient beast 
travels round and round his narrow circuit, turning his screak- 
ing machinery, and putting in motion the long belt of earthen 
jars, by means of which the water is elevated for the use of 
man. Poor beast ! I felt a sympathy for him in his lonely soli- 
tude, and yet I could not but think he was spending his life far 
more usefully than many a more intelligent being that enjoyed 
the cheerful reo:ions of lio-ht and sunshine far above his head. 
Turning from the well, we will next pay a visit to 

THE MOSQUE OF MOHAMMED ALI. 

It is a gorgeous structure — the finest and most renowned in 
modern Egypt. Standing upon the hill of the citadel and in- 
closed by its rampart of walls, it lifts its proud form high above 
all its companions. The whole interior, pillars, walls and arohes, 



1 



204 EGYPT AND SINAI. ' 

is of beautiful alabaster, brought from the quarries of Tel el \ 

Armana. Again we must lay off our shoes and accept the j 

proffered slippers of the attendants who wait at the doors. \ 

The interior shows a departure from the ancient style of archi- i 

tecture we have before contemplated. A western taste has left \ 

its stamp on its general oriental features. But the beautiful \ 

material of which it is built renders it truly magnificent. This i 

mosque is also a burial place. It is the tomb of Mohammed ^ 

Ali. He had it built during his life, chiefly with the design of i 

making it a mausoleum for his ashes when his eventful career ] 

of life was over. A conspicuous part of the building has been j 

set apart for his tomb ; a railing surrounds it, gorgeous decora- ; 
tions have been lavished upon it, and near it lights are kept 

continually burning. Here, in pompous state, he reposes, and i 

dreams no more of rivals, of conquests, or of power. ^ 

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE MAMALUKES. 

^^"ow come with me to the outside of the mosque, and look ; 

about you. It was just here, within this inclosure, upon this i 

very ground where we are now standing, there was enacted, by ; 

this same Mohammed Ali, one of the bloodiest massacres that \ 

stains the page of history. Of the Mamalukes and their<,power \ 

and influence in the government of Egypt, we have before , 

spoken. They were a wily, treacherous race, and Ali well knew | 

that he was not secure at the head of the government, with I 

these perfidious Beys plotting against him. Already the keen- ■ 

sighted and watchful Viceroy had discovered a conspiracy to j 

overthrow his government and assassinate his person. An ex- ' 
pedition into Arabia, to deliver the Holy Land from the "Waha- 

bees, who had taken possession of Mecca and Medina, was ' 

planned. > 

The elevation of his son, Tossoom Pasha, to the important ] 

command of this expedition, was made the pretext for a cele- \ 

bration at the royal palace of unusual pomp and splendor, to ] 

which all the dignitaries of the realm were invited, and special | 

pains were taken to have the Mamalukes present. Little did j 

the Beys, cautious and perfidious as they were, imagine the j 

^part they were to act in the ceremonies of the day. Between ' 



A BLOODY MASSACRE. 



207 



them and their Viceroy it was only a strife who should be first 
in some act of treachery and crime to annihilate the power of 
the other. How the sovereign of Egypt managed to so effectu- 
ally allay their suspicions, and how it happened that they were 
so deceived, has been a wonder to many. 

The first of March, 1811, was the day fixed upon for the 
great feast. The ceremonies were completed — all had jDassed 
pleasantly, and the assured Mamalukes mounted their horses 
to retire. To their great surprise, they found the gates shut ! 
"What does this mean?" For the first time a dark suspicion 
of treachery flashed across their minds. ''We are prisoners in 
the citadel 1 " But their apprehensions had scarce time to ripen 
into fear, when a blaze like the lightning's flash kindled about 
them, and the sharp rattle of musketry, like the sudden burst- 
ing of a thunder clap, broke in deafening peals upon the still- 
ness of the night. From above them and around them, like 
the rattling hail, fell the leaden balls of death. Flight was in 
vain; valor availed nothing against an unseen and protected 
foe. Those who attempted to fly were picked off by the well- 
directed aim of sharp-shooting Albanian gunners. Of all the 
four hundred and forty of their chief men who were gathered 
here on that fearful night, but one escaped ! Just here where 
we now stand was a breach in the wall. Emin Bey leaped his 
charger over that gap, and down that fearful precipice head- 
long horse and rider went. It is said a heap of rubbish at the 
bottom broke the fall, and into yonder desert he made his 
escape. 

The deep-laid plan of Mohammed Ali was not confined to 
the citadel alone. The noise of the massacre at the palace, 
was the signal for an uprising in the city and country. A gen- 
eral order of extermination was given. Befuge was denied the 
Mamaluke race, under penalties of severe punishment. Their 
houses were given up to plunder. It was not until the second 
day that an order was issued for the cessation of this awful per- 
secution and work of extermination. Besides the four hundred 
and forty who perished in the citadel with their chief, Ibrahim 
Bey, no less than twelve hundred lives were sacrificed in the 
3ity and surrounding country. It was a treacherous, cold 



208 



EGYPT AHID SINAI. 



blooded massacre. It was the end of the Mamaluke power in 
Egypt. 

THE CHILDREN. 

We are lingering too long about the citadel. There are other 
sights and places to occupy our time and attention. Cairo is a 
busy place, and the people have many ways of making a few 
paras, or, if not in want, of passing away the time. There are 
street musicians, singing girls and dancing girls, serpent charm- 
ers, jugglers, farce players and harlequins, public recitations, 
romances and harangues. Here may be seen exhibitions and 
illustrations of all the passions and affections of the human 
heart. The common articles of provision are cheap, the dress 
of the laboring classes simple and easily supplied. But do you 
notice how few boys are seen in the streets? Of the wealthier 
classes you see very few, either of the boys or the girls, but the 
boys receive much more attention and care than the girls. The 
children even of wealthy parents, when they do appear in pub- 
lic, have a most disgusting appearance. Covered with ragged, 
dirty garments, faces besmeared with dirt, and hands unwashed, 
you at once conclude these Egyptians are the most slatternly 
people in the world. But those more intimately acquainted 
with them assure us that this apparent neglect of children 
arises entirely from another cause, l^o people in the world love 
their children more, or treat them with greater lenity and kind 
ness, than these Egyptian mothers. It is said these affectionate 
mothers thus neglect the appearance of their children, and 
leave them unwashed and shabbily clothed, particularly when 
they take them out in public, from "/ea?^ of the evil eyeJ^ They 
esteem children the greatest of blessings, and for this reason 
they are most likely to be coveted. For this reason, it is said, 
mothers confine their boys long in the harems, and some, when 
they take them out, even dress them up like girls, because boys 
are so much more highly esteemed, and consequently more 
likely to be looked upon with jealous or covetous eyes. 

With the poorer classes, while boys are kept in and taken 
care of, the girls are allowed to run in the streets, and often per- 
form the most menial and filthy services. It is a common oc- 



MEN'S WORKING DRESS. 



A MENIAL EMPLOYMENT. 



211 



cupation among the servile women to prepare manure for fuel. 
This is done hy spreading it out into flat cakes about an inch 
thick and six or eight inches broad, and drying it thoroughly 
in the sun. This constitutes a great share of the fuel of Egypt. 
As you pass the hovels of the poor, it is a common thing to see 
the women seated in the dirt, with no implement but their bare 
hands, often with jewels in their noses, and great gold- washed 
wristlets upon their arms, kneading up like dough this disgust- 
ing compound, patting it out into little cakes and spreading 
them on the ground, or perhaps all over the sunny sides of their 
hovels, that they may sooner become thoroughly dried. To aid 
in this work, the girls from eight to twelve years old are sent 
into the streets, and they may be seen at all hours of the day, 
slipping around among the camels and donkeys, often under 
their very feet, scraping up the offal with their bare hands, and 
carrying it about in baskets upon their heads, from which it 
drips over their person, besmearing them with strange, party- 
colored lines from head to feet. Menial and disgusting as this 
employment may seem, many of these street scavengers may be 
seen at all times of day in the streets of the city. 

THE DERWESHEES. 

We forgot to drive to one of the Derwesh mosques and wit- 
ness their strange performances. They are a singular religious 
sect, known all through the Mohammedan lands. The most 
of them devote themselves to religious exercises, and the lower 
orders of them subsist almost entirely by begging. They are 
anxious to obtain a reputation for superior sanctity, and many 
of them make pretentions to the performance of miracles. 
Some of them obtain a livelihood by carrying about upon their 
backs a goat-skin of water, selling it by the cup-full to thirsty 
citizens, and at religious festivals. They seem to be an inoffen- 
sive, superstitious class of people. Their devotional exercises 
are often of the wildest and most extravagant kind — howling, 
dancing, whirling, and on extraordinary fete occasions, wind- 
ing live snakes about the body, and tearing the flesh from them 
with their teeth. Their most striking exercises are performed 
in their houses of worship, but they may also be seen almost 



212 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



any day in the streets. There is a company of them now under 
the shade of yonder tree just where we are to pass. We will 
pause and look at them. 

Taking hold of hands in a large circle around a pole or tree, 
they commence swinging their bodies backward and forward, 
jerking the head and shaking the hands, keeping time to a sort 
of murmuring exclamation or guttural grunt, sometimes pro- 
nouncing the name of Allah, and making various devout ex- 
clamatious. This is sometimes continued without an intermis- 
sion for near half an hour, the motions becoming more and 
more rapid. Sometimes two rings are formed, the inner facing 
the outer, swinging backward and forward toward each other. 
As the excitement increases, they toss their hair, foam at the 
mouth, scream, and seem to give themselves up to the wildest 
excesses of religious enthusiasm. Sometimes one will separate 
himself from the rest, pause a few moments as if to balance 
himself and collect his energies, and then commence spinning 
round like a top, stretching out his arms horizontally, and 
spreading out, by the velocity of his motion, the bottom of his 
loose dress, like a great umbrella. For twenty minutes or more, 
without pause or rest, and constantly increasing velocity, these 
religious devotees will twirl with a rapidity truly astonishing, 
sometimes, it is said, making fifty revolutions in a minute. But 
we have seen enough of this useless religious enthusiasm. It 
would be well if such energy and devotion could be turned 
into a more useful channel. Here is our hotel, and our day's 
excursion is ended. 

THE NILE VOYAGE. 

February ISth. My primary object in visiting Egypt, was to 
make a journey to Mount Sinai. I had also designed to ascend 
the Xile, if circumstances would permit. I found I was too late 
in the season to make the 'Nile voyage, and then have time to 
visit Mount Sinai before the oppressive heat of summer came 
on. To visit Upper Egypt I should have been here six or eight 
weeks earlier, so as to have the journey completed by the fir&t 
of March. The voyage up the Nile is said to be an easy one, 



UPPEK EGYPT. 



213 



and is particularly recommended for invalids. Most of the 
ruins and places of special interest are found in close proximi- 
ty to the river, so that the fatigues of land travel are avoided. 
The Mle boat becomes a floating home, and can be fitted up 
with comforts and conveniences, as the taste of the traveler may 
dictate or his purse allow. The voyage will require from a 
month and a half to two months, at an expense for each person 
of about two hundred dollars and upwards, according to the man- 
ner of living and the time spent in stoppages and explorations. 
The expense for ladies is considerably more than for gentlemen, 
and the cost of travel for both has considerably increased with- 
in a few years. Dragomen, boats and supplies of all kinds 
necessary for the voyage, can now be obtained in Cairo. There 
cannot be a more delightful climate for a winter residence than 
Egypt. In the shade it is at no time uncomfortably warm 
during the day, while the nights are cool and invigorating, and 
the change from night to day not so great as to be uncom- 
fortable. 

As I could not visit Upper Egypt, I contented myself in call- 
ing to mind the noble piles of ruins, in the midst of which the 
antiquarian revels. There are Thebes, Karnac and Luxor, tali 
obelisks, gigantic statues, the time-worn ruins of magnificent 
palaces and temples. Here they stand, enduring monuments 
of the genius and enterprise of an extinct race. What should 
we know of that people now, but for the architectural monu- 
ments they have left behind them? How much we have 
learned from the moldering ruins and crumbling fragments 
that are scattered over their land ! The tablets of their tombs, 
the walls of their palaces, and even the ornaments that adorned 
their structures, have become historic records to teach us their 
customs, laws and religion. And what results we are gather- 
ing from them ! How many important and perplexing ques- 
tions in chronology, history and religion they are settling for 
us ! How visibly the footsteps of the Almighty are seen here ! 
"What legible traces his invisible hand has left here, and how 
strangely, after centuries have elapsed, he has taught posterity 
to read them ! In how many ways they record their testimony 



214 



EGYPT AND gINAI. 



to liis directing Providence, and conspire to establish the truth 
of his written word I 

PREPARATIONS FOR A JOURNEY TO MOUNT SINAI. 

A journey to Mount Sinai is always a hard and toilsome one, 
so much so but few undertake it. All the way you must pass 
through a waste and barren desert, often among hostile tribes. 
I was gratified to find the road was now open, and the Arabs 
friendly, and I immediately set about preparing for the jour- 
ney. This is quite different from a voyage up the Xile. There 
your highway is a sea of sweet waters, from which you may at 
any time slake your thirst; on your right and on 3^0 ur left are 
the green and flowery banks of one of the most productive val- 
leys in the world; while your larder may at any time be filled 
with the choicest productions of flesh and vegetables from the 
villages about you. Upon the Sinai route how different! 
The camel is your ship upon a wide ocean of drifting 
sands, barren hills and craggy, desolate mountains. All 
your supplies must be taken with you — your water, your tent 
for a house, your beds, provisions and all requisites of every 
kind. 

The first step to be taken is to employ a dragoman. These 
are numerous, and follow your steps at every turn around your 
hotel, so long as there is any prospect of getting employment. 
They are of various nationalities, with corresponding costumes. 
But whatever tongue they speak, or whatever may be the cut 
of their garments, or the color of their turbans, one thing they 
all share in common — they are liars and extortionists, and will 
swindle you if they can. I confess I visited these shores under 
the impression that they were an abused and slandered class 
of men, but after having had a few lessons of personal ex- 
perience, I will not tm^n lawyer to put in a plea for their integ- 
rity of character. One requisite will be found a great conveni- 
ence — you not only want a man who can talk good Arabic, but 
good English. Many of them have only English enough to 
transact the ordinary business of the journey. If they have a 
good knowledge of English, it will very much facilitate your 



CONTEACT WITH OUK DRAGOMAN. 



215 



intercourse among the Arabs, and aid you in gathering much 
useful information from them. 

A BARGAIN MADE. 

I soon found two associates for the journey; a dragoman was 
selected, and we met at the office of the American Consul, 
where the following contract was drawn up, signed, witnessed 
and recorded: 

This agreement, made February 19th, 1861, between D. A. Randall, 
E. P. Baker and Algernon Lempriere of the first part, and Mohammed 
Shrik of the second part: Witnesseth, 

1. That the said Mohammed Shrik agrees to take the said parties of 
the first part from Cairo to Mount Sinai, and back to Suez — the camels 
for transportation to leave Cairo on the 21st of February, and be at Suez 
on the 24th of February. 

2. Mohammed Shrik agrees to furnish all needed camels or dromeda- 
ries, drivers, a good cook, and all assistance necessary for the parties of 
the first part — a good double tent, bedsteads, clean beds and bedding, 
together with all necessary provisions, including meats, vegetables, 
fruits, figs, dates, oranges, etc., etc., all to be of the best quality. 

3. Mohammed Shrik also agrees to furnish all needed protection, and 
any escort that may be necessary for the security of the persons and 
property of the parties of the first part, to pay all the expenses of said 
journey, to pay all contributions, fees, presents, backsheesh or demands 
that may be made by any sheik or sheiks or Arabs on the route, to pay 
all charges and demands whatever arising out of said journey to the con- 
vent of Mount Sinai, and returning therefrom. 

4. It is also agreed that the parties of the first part shall pay their 
own railroad fare from Cairo to Suez, and also third-class railroad fare 
for the said Mohammed Shrik from Cairo to Suez, and from Suez back 
to Cairo, on their return. They also agree to pay any present or fee that 
may be demanded by the monks at the convent of Mount Sinai, for any 
privileges the party may enjoy in visiting or stopping in said convent. 

5. It is also agreed that the parties shall proceed to Mount Sinai by 
the way of Ain Hawarah, Wady Taiyibeh, Wady Feiran and Wady 
Rahah, and return by Wady Es Sheik and Surabit El Khadim. In sup- 
plies of provisions, a good and full meal shall be furnished in the morn- 
ing, a cold lunch at noon, and a good dinner of soup, two courses of 
meat, vegetables, and desert on encamping for the night. It is also un- 



216 



EGYPT AIs^D SINAI. 



derstood that the parties of the first part shall have the privilege of 
sleeping in the tents while stopping at Suez and Mount Sinai, if they 
prefer to do so. 

6. Mohammed Shrik shall be allowed twenty -three days for the per- 
formance of said journey from Cairo and back ; and all stops and hind- 
rances not demanded or made by the parties of the first part, and all 
damages or accidents to camels or luggage, shall be at his expense. The 
parties of the first part shall be allowed to remain two full days at Mount 
Sinai; and Mohammed Shrik agrees to act as interpreter and assistant at 
the convent, and in ascending the mountain at Sinai, without additional 
compensation. 

7. The parties of the first part agree to pay Mohammed Shrik, for the 
performance of this contract, seventy-five pounds sterling, or twenty-five 
pounds sterling each. Forty-two and one-half pounds of the above 
shall be paid on the signing of this contract, and the balance on the re- 
turn of the parties to Cairo, the payments to be made at the office of the 
American Consul in Cairo; and the above amount of seventy-five pounds 
is all the said Mohammed Shrik shall be entitled to receive for the per- 
formance of said contract. 

8. Any differences of opinion that shall arise with regard to the mean- 
ing or fulfillment of this contract, shall be settled at the ofi&ce of the 
American Consul in Cairo, and the decision of said Consul shall be final 
in the matter. 

Dated at Cairo, February 19th, 1861. 

(Signed by the parties of the first part.) 
(Sealed by Mohammed Shrik.) 
("Witnessed by the Clerk of American Consul, 
and the Seal of the office attached.) 

For witnessing and recording this contract, the Consul 
charged us five dollars. This done, Mohammed was left to do 
all the rest — procure the escort, tent, supplies, and all other 
requisites. It was only necessary for us to see that the supphes 
were such as we were willing to accept. The first thing he 
does is to procure the services of one of the sheiks of the Ta- 
wara Arabs, that inhabit the desert between Suez and Mount 
Sinai. Some of these are generally watching around the ho- 
tels for opportunities of this kind, and he was not long in se- 
curing the services of one. Without this arrangement, it is not 
safe for a traveling party to attempt to pass through their ter- 
ritory. It is a sort of tribute levied upon the traveler through 



AERANGEMENTS TO VISIT SINAI. 217 

their dominions, and also secures safety from all molestation by 
the tribe. How much he paid the sheik for this escort, I was 
never able to ascertain. This sheik had several camels and one 
or two men with him, which our dragoman also hired, and 
thus the sheik was enabled to make something more out of the 
journey. 

LETTER FROM THE GREEK CONVENT. 

The convent at Mount Sinai is a branch of the Greek con- 
vent at Cairo, and no one can gain admittance to the convent 
at Sinai without a letter of permission from the Patriarch at 
Cairo. To procure this letter from the Patriarch, a recommend 
from the resident consul of the nation to which you belong is 
necessary. We went first to the office of the American Consul, 
who furnished us a brief letter of introduction to the Greek 
Patriarch, for which he charged us two dollars. With this 
letter, and our dragoman for guide and interpreter, we pro- 
ceeded to the Greek convent, and after considerable delay and 
ceremony, obtained admittance. While waiting for the Patri- 
arch, a servant brought in a waiter with a dish of preserves, 
and tumblers of water and arrack. There being only a priest 
present, and he an Italian, and we unable to understand him, we 
made several ridiculous blunders before he could make us un- 
derstand how the preserves were to be eaten. 

We were at last relieved from our embarrassment by the en- 
trance of the Patriarch. The conversation between him and 
our dragoman was carried on in Arabic. We could not under- 
stand a word spoken, but we soon discovered there was some- 
thing wrong. The controversy waxed warmer, there was a 
cloud and a scowl on the old Patriarch's brow, and we saw evi- 
dent indications of a gathering storm. At length our drago- 
man turned to us: ''There is a difficulty in getting our letter 
on account of the sheik I have employed. You can go down 
to the gate, and the donkey boys will take you to the hotel. 
Leave the matter to me. It is my business ; I will see it set- 
tled." This was all we could learn of the matter, and we took 
our leave. 

We ascertained afterward that our sheik lived in the desert, 
13 



218 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



near the convent; and in his journeys to Cairo had borrowed 
money of the Patriarch, under the pledge that he would pay it 
by using his camels to carry provisions back to the convent in 
the desert. 'Now, having an opportunity to get a cash job 
from our dragoman, he had deserted the Patriarch, and left him 
to get his supplies forwarded in some other way. The exas- 
perated old dignitary immediately sent out an officer, had him 
arrested, and cast into prison. It cost our dragoman a whole 
day's running and pettifogging to procure his release. A satis- 
factory arrangement was at last made, and he was set at liber- 
ty. The necessary letter was furnished, for which the Patriarch 
charged us one dollar and twenty-five cents. 

DEPARTURE FOR SUEZ. 

Preliminaries were at last settled and arrangements com- 
pleted. Sheik, caniels, drivers, tents, water and provisions, left 
for Suez Friday, February 22d, to be at Suez on the evening 
of the third day. We were to proceed thither by railroad at 
our leisure. The construction of this railroad from Cairo to 
Suez, saves the traveler three days of desert camel ride. It 
has but recently been constructed, and now makes a continuous 
line of railroad from Alexandria to Suez, by way of Cairo. 
Thus the Mediterranean and the Eed Sea are now connected, 
and the difficulties of the East India passage greatly dimin- 
ished. The traveler from Cairo to Suez now accomplishes in 
a few hours what formerly took three days, through a desolate 
and barren desert of sand. 

A RIDE UPON THIS ROAD. 

At the time appointed we were on board the cars, bound for 
Suez. The distance by rail is eighty-three miles. On this road 
there are three classes of fare — about two, five and eight dollars. 
Leaving the depot, and the queer looking, jabbering multitude 
that may at any time be seen congregated there, we plunged 
immediately into the immense, gloomy desert. Cairo, with her 
citadel, minarets and beautiful groves, seemed to glide away 
behind us, and soon the wide waste of sands, like a boundless 
ocean, completely shut us in. The monotony of the desert is 



A KIDE IX THE DESEKT. 



219 



broken sometimes by gentle undulations of the surface, and oc- 
casionally by low ranges of hills. But every where the same 
awful sterility meets the eye. 'No human habitation, unless you 
chance to meet the low, black tent of some wandering Bedawin 
— no groves, no shrubbery, not a tree to relieve the gloomy mo- 
notony of the scene. For the accommodation of the railroad, 
two or three stations have been established, and a few hovels 
built, the inmates of which are supplied with provisions and 
water brought by the cars from Cairo. What a contrast to the 
green valley of the 'Nile, in which we had been making donkey 
excursions! Onward our iron horse dashed, with the strength 
and endurance of a whole caravan of camels; defying the 
scorching rays of the sun above, and the burning solitude of 
sands beneath. At last a stony ridge of high lands rose up 
upon our right, and a dark blue line lay stretched across our 
pathway. Those were the mountains of Attaka, and this was 
our first glimpse of the waters of the sea that opened its 
waves beneath the outstretched rod of the leader of Israel. 
And now we began eagerly to recall to remembrance Migdol, 
Baal-Zephon and Pihahiroth — the children of Israel coming up 
in multitudes, led by the mysterious cloud, and encamping by 
these waters. Perhaps over this very spot, where we now ride, 
that wonderful cloud floated; perhaps on this very spot it 
rested. But while we are absorbed in these remembrances, we 
have reached our destination. The cars have stopped. Here is 

SUEZ. 

This spot, from the very nature of the locality, seems des- 
tined as a resting place for travelers. Situated upon the head 
waters of the sea — a jplace for embarkation Avhenever there is 
any traffic upon its waters — the gate of entrance to the great 
Sinaitic peninsula, and since the establishment of Mohammed- 
anism, a rallying place for pilgrims upon the great caravan 
route from Grand Cairo to Mecca. There has been a settle- 
ment here in some form from time immemorial. Modern Suez, 
a few years ago a small, insignificant town, has, since the ter- 
mination of the railroad here, rapidly increased in size and im- 
portance. It lies in about 30° of north latitude, and now con- 



220 



EGYPT AJs^D SINAI. 



tains some three thousand inhabitants. It is difficult to conceive 
of the barreness and desolation that surrounds it. Washed 
upon one side by the waters of the sea, the barren wastes of 
desert encircle it upon the others. There is no fresh water 
within several miles of it, and then a very scanty supply. Most 
of the water used by the inhabitants, and all used by the en- 
gines, is brought from Cairo on the cars, and all the provisions 
are brought in from abroad. 'No green thing is seen in the vi- 
cinity, not a grass plat, not a tree or a shrub, to relieve the 
gloomy, sterile monotony of the place. To the biblical student, 
the chief interest arises from the fact of its being the supposed 
place of 

THE PASSAGE OF THE ISRAELITES. 

It is Sunday. No Christian church opens its inviting doors, 
no Sabbath bell calls us to worship. Let us take our Bible and 
wander along the shore, and ascend yonder elevation, and see 
if we can trace any of the landmarks by which this place can 
be identified with the wonderful records of scripture. Just 
here, near the depot, and only a few minutes' walk from the 
town, is a high mound, said to be a portion of the remains of 
the old ruined town of Kolzim, that formerly existed here. The 
Pasha is now erecting a house upon it. We can not only as- 
cend the hill, but the house also, which will give us a good ele- 
vation from which to survey the surrounding country. The 
sea just before us is now only about a mile broad, and quite 
shallow. Vessels of deep draught anchor about five miles 
below, and a line of shoals extend all along this portion of the 
sea. Great changes are supposed to have taken place here 
during the last four thousand years. Geologists tell us there 
has evidently been an elevation of this portion of land about 
the head of the Eed Sea, causing an apparent diminution of 
the waters, so that the sea is not only much narrower than for- 
merly, but also reaches a far less distance to the northward. 
That such physical changes do sometimes take place, is a well 
known fact. About the region of Alexandria, there has evident- 
ly been a depression of the land, so that portions of the catacombs 
that were formerly dry, are now submerged in the waters of the 



I 



EVIDENCES OF THE DELIVERANCE. 221 

Mediterranean. Again, the constantly drifting sands are en- 
croaching upon the sea, and in these shallow waters great 
changes may have taken place, in some thousands of years, 
from this cause alone. But how does it now correspond with 

THE BIBLICAL NARRATIVE. 

Turn your face in the direction of the sea. We here stand 
upon a peninsula — a flat point of land projecting into the sea. 
Upon our right, only a mile or two distant, stretching like a 
great wall from the sea far back into the desert, rises the moun- 
tain range of Jebel Attaka. Upon our left, a portion of the 
sea comes winding around, presenting a barrier of waters upon 
that side. Behind us, for near a hundred miles, stretches away 
the great desert over which we have been riding. 

Suppose Moses to have come up with the armies of Israel, 
and encamped in this place — and the position is certainly a fa- 
vorable one — with these mountains upon his right, the sea 
before him, and hooking around inland upon his left, and the 
advancing army of Pharaoh coming up from the desert in his 
rear, how could he escape but by a miracle? Pharaoh said of 
them: "They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath 
shut them in.'' How accurate the description ! If an invading 
army desired to drive their enemy into a position where they 
could effectually cut off all retreat, what better position could 
they have wished ? 

The names found in this locality, and that seem to have 
come down from remote antiquity, also unite their testimony 
with other things to mark this immediate vicinity as the place 
of this remarkable passage. This range of hills upon our right 
is called by the Arabs Jebel Attaka, which means the Moun- 
tains of Deliverance. A valley among these hills is called Ba- 
deah, the Miraculous. The range of mountains upon the oppo- 
site side of the sea is called the Jebel Tih, and a valley, Wady 
Till — the Mountaiyis of the Wanderings, and the Valley of the 
Wanderings. N"early opposite us is Ain Mousa, the Fountain 
of Moses; and lower down upon the shore of the sea is Ham- 
man Pharoun, the Baths of Pharaoh, said to have derived their 
name from the destruction of his hosts. Thus these signili- 



222 



EGYPT Al^D SIXAI. 



cant names seem fixed to these places to perpetuate the remem- 
brance of the scripture narrative ; while the Arab tribes have 
all retained rude accounts of the events in their traditions. I 
could not but consider the names attached to these localities, 
and which have been handed down from remote antiquity, as 
the Handwriting of the Almighty, for the perpetuation of the 
knowledge of the wonderful events that have here transpired. 

HOW THE PASSAGE WAS EFFECTED. 

AVe have no disposition to disprove the miracle, or detract 
from its greatness and wonder. That an astonishing miracle 
was wrought, there can be no question. And yet the narrative 
plainly informs us that God made use of known and common 
agencies to accomplish his purpose. The tide here rises several 
feet. Though no mention is made of this in the sacred record, 
it might have been among the means employed. The Lord 
brought a wind, which drove the vraters back, and he held 
them by his powerful hand until he was ready to return them 
to their accustomed place. The position of the waters and all 
the surroundings, seem to conspire to fix the locality of this 
great deliverance of Israel, and signal overthrow of their ene- 
mies, in this immediate locality. And now, standing upon this 
eminence, in full view of all that is transpiring, let us witness 
the wonderful passage. 

All around us, thickly covering this great plain, stood the 
many thousands of Israel, ^^'ow cast your eye back upon yon- 
der desert. It is dark with the pursuing hosts of Egypt. 
There is Pharaoh and his men, his horsemen, and six hundred 
chariots, thirsting for vengeance upon the escaping foe. Con- 
sternation seizes upon the hosts of Israel; they see no way of 
escape ; the stoutest hearts begin to tremble. The clamor of 
the multitude reaches the ear of Moses. Because there were 
no graves in Egypt hast thou taken us away to die in the wil- 
derness." But Moses, with the experience of eighty years, 
stands like a pillar of strength — calm and unmoved. His les- 
sons at the Mount of God, the wonders of the burning bush, 
the revelations of Jehovah in the court of !N"oph, were not to 



A MIKACULOUS DELIYEKANCE. 223 

be forgotten in this stern hour of triah "Fear ye not, stand 
still, and see the salvation of God." 

Now that mysterious cloud, the pavilion of the angel of God, 
that had gone before them, lifts heavenward its majestic form, 
passes over the camp, and settles down between them and their 
pursuers. Do you believe in unseen agencies ? The angel of 
God encampeth about them that fear him ; and the angel that 
guides us in peace, becomes our shield in the hour of danger. 

It was a great event, when God in the creation rolled to- 
gether the waves of the great ocean, elevated the land, and 
heaped up the mountain barriers, and gave the elements their 
boundaries. He who fixed those boundaries, alone has power 
to change them. He alone could bring the winds and compress 
the waves, and make for Israel a road through the midst of 
the flood. " Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go for- 
ward." His Omnipotent hand piled up the waters like ram- 
parts about them, and gave them a safe and triumphant 
passage. 

THE DESTRUCTION AND THE TRIUMPH. 

The boasting warriors of Egypt, in the pride of human 
strength, reach the sea; in vain confidence they attempt the 
mysterious highway of waters. They entered the gateway, 
and the portals closed behind them. In the morning watch the 
Lord looked upon them, and there was trouble in their ranks. 
The mighty waters came rolling back, and horse, rider and 
chariot were entombed beneath their resistless tide ! 

The morning sun looked down upon the green valley of the 
Nile; his light kindled upon the Arabian hills, and glanced 
upon the now tranquil waters of the sea. There stood the for- 
lorn and awe-stricken remnant of that great army, that in the 
consciousness of strength and the glory of human pride, had 
marched out from the populous cities of yonder plain. They 
looked down upon that sea gleaming in the sunlight — it was 
the grave of buried thousands. 

But hark, the triumph of Israel! While this desponding 
remnant of Pharaoh's host looked out in hopeless despair 
upon the sea of waters, that had become the winding sheet and 



224 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



monumental tomb of their companions, they had but to lift 
their eyes to yonder shore to witness the glad exultations of a 
redeemed and rejoicing people. Moses celebrated this great 
and signal deliverance by a song of triumph, a part of which 
has been translated as follows : 

"I will sing unto the Lord, for lie has triumphed gloriously; 
The horse and his rider hath he whelmed in the sea. 
My praise and my song is Jehovah, 
And he hath become my salvation. 

With the blast of thy nostrils the waters were heaped together; 
The flowing waters stood upright as an heap; 
The floods were congealed in the heart of the sea. 
The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, 
I will divide the spoil; my soul shall be satisfied; 
I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them. 
Thou didst blow with thy breath; the sea covered them; 
They sank as lead in the mighty waters. 

Who is like unto thee among the gods, O, Jehovah ! 

Who is like unto thee, making thyself glorious in holiness, 

Fearful in praises, executing wonders? 

Thou hast led forth in thy mercy the people whom thou hast redeemed ; 

Thou didst stretch out thy right hand; the earth swallowed them; 

Thou hast guided them in thy strength to the habitation of thy holiness." 

'Not the men only, but the women joined in the triumph. 
Then Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tim- 
brel in her hand, and all the women went out after her, with 
timbrels and dances : 

" Our slavery is finished, our labor is done, 
Our tasks are relinquished, our march is begun ; 
The arm of the Lord hath divided the sea; 
Jehovah has conquered, and Israel is free. 

Proud boaster of Egypt ! be silent and mourn ; 
Weep, daughter of Memphis, thy banner is torn ; 
In the temple of Isis be wailing and woe, 
For the mighty are fallen, and princes laid low." 



I 



FIKST ITIGHT IN THE DESEPwT. 



227 



CHAPTER XI. 

From Suez to Sinai — Appearaxce of the Country — Encamp- 
ments OF Israel — Life in the Desert. 

While we were absorbed in the reflections with which the 
last chapter closed, and gazing with intense interest upon the 
theatre of these wonderful events, the sun was slowly creeping- 
down the slope of the Arabian hills, and the announcement 
was made : " The sheik and camels have arrived ; the men are 
putting up the tents just out of the town." So to-night I am 
to take my first lesson in camp life, among desert sands, hunch- 
backed camels and Bedawin Arabs. 

February 2M. To one all his life accustomed to the com- 
forts and luxuries of civilization, it seems, at first, a strange 
thing to lie down to sleep in a frail tent, amid such surroundings 
of desert, Arabs and camels as encompassed us during the last 
night. The morning came, thanks to the great Protector of all, 
and found us safe. Our Egyptian cook commenced in earnest 
the mysteries of his vocation, and by the time we were dressed 
had a good supply of smoking viands upon the table. 

The first thing in the process of preparation was the loading 
of the camels. What a strange paraphernalia — tents, beds, 
bedsteads, meats, chickens, water, oranges, stools, cooking uten- 
sils, fuel, provender for the camels, etc., etc., etc., all to be piled 
and fitted on to the backs of these patient looking beasts. 

One of the first things to be done was to apportion the lug- 
gage among the camels, and give each his appropriate share. 
This is not so easy a thing to do. There are generally several 
owners of the camels, each one anxious to get his own beast 
started with as light a burden as possible. Such pulling, haul- 
ing, wrangling, chafing, asperity of language and vehemence 



228 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



of gesticulation, that never ends in blows or blood, can be wit- 
nessed no where but among these children of Ishmael. Once 
or twice our dragoman lost all patience, seized a walking stick 
and pitched into them like a perfect fury, laying about him 
right and left, actually cudgeling them into order and submis- 
sion. One poor driver received some blows over the shoulders, 
the marks of which I am sure he must have carried with him 
clear to Mount Sinai. To me it was a novel scene, but I soon 
discovered that our dragoman had pluck and authority enouo-h 
for his position, and as we had hired him to attend to all these 
little matters, we looked on with as much unconcern as though 
we were only passengers, especially as we soon learned it was 
their peculiar way of doing business. 

CROSSING THE SEA. 

At last the wrangling ceased ; the luggage was duly appor- 
tioned, and each camel had his assigned share of the burden. 
Our camels now had to make a circuit of some ten or twelve 
miles around the head of the sea. We could ride around with 
them, or take a boat and cross over and meet them npon the 
opposite side. We preferred paying twelve and a half cents 
ferriage, for a half hour's ride across the water, to a half day's 
ride upon camels in the burning sun. 

We loitered about the town until about noon, when an Arab 
ferryman took us into his boat, spread his old fashioned lateen 
sail to the breeze, and we were gliding over the waters that had 
once parted their yielding waves for the hosts of Israel. We 
found the water quite shallow all the way. At low tide the 
bottom is laid bare near half the distance. The deepest por- 
tion of the other part of the way might have been fifteen to 
twenty feet. It was a short distance above this that Bona- 
parte, during his campaign into Egypt, taking advantage of 
low tide, crossed over on horseback to hold an interview with 
the monks from the convent at Sinai, and a delegation from the 
Tawarah Arabs. As he was returning, the tide came rolling in 
upon him, so that he could no longer keep his seat in the sad- 
dle. A stout soldier seized him, and bore him on his shoulders 
to the opposite shore by holding on to the tail of the guide's 



CAMEL EIDING. 



229 



horse. Had it not been for the aid thus rendered, he might 
have shared the fate of the Egyptian prince. 

We had not long to wait before our caravan came up. A 
hasty lunch from the haversack, and we were ready for our first , 
camel ride in the desert. Thus far we had been greatly favored 
by railroad and sea, but now the stern prose work of the jour- 
ney must commence. Three camels are generally allowed for 
each traveler.* There being three of us, nine camels were 
deemed necessary to carry us and the requisite amount of stores 
and luggage. The riding camels are called dromedaries, and 
differ only in build and the use to which they are applied. Be- 
tween the camel and the dromedary, as the terms are used here, 
there is about the same difference as is made in' our country 
between the saddle horse and the heavy, stout-built draft horse. 
A dromedary is a light, fleet-footed camel. All the camels I 
saw here have but one hump. Our dromedaries were tall, lank, 
rough-looking fellows; the saddles were large, heavy, rude 
pieces of manufacture. The three best riding beasts were ap- 
propriated to our use. Each camel carried a pair of panniers, 
in which a quantity of grain for his own food in the desert was 
stowed. Over these our beds and bedding w^ere piled, so as to 
make a soft, broad, easy seat. At the command of the driver, 
the tall animal came down upon his knees, and then dropped 
upon his haunches, until he lay flat upon his breast-bone, with 
his long legs folded in a very peculiar manner close under him. 
I was surprised to see with vv^hat facility the tall beast humbled 
himself for his burden. A moment more and I was fairly 
astride of his back. He lifted himself first upon his hind legs, 
throwing me violently forward and nearly pitching me over his 
head. I held on to the saddle from behind, and he continued 
to open fold after fold of his locomotive organs, raising me 
higher and higher, until I was again surprised at the facility of 
the ascent and the giddy hight to which I was suddenly ele- 
vated. All was now in readiness, and we were fairly under 
way for a long ride over barren plains of sand and among 
bleak and desolate mountains. 

The motion of the camel is a very peculiar one; he moves a 
side at a time, like a pacing horse. You are thrown backward 



230 EGYPT AND SINAI. 

4 

and forward at every step of the animal, with a sudden jerk 
across the small of the back, that keeps the upper part of the 
hody swinging backward and forward like a see-saw. This at 
first is extremely unpleasant and fatiguing, giving to some per- 
sons a sensation not unlike sea- sickness. But to this the rider 
soon becomes accustomed. The speed of our camels was from 
two and a half to three miles an hour, always walking. The 
trot of the camel, for the comfort of the rider, is about like that 
of a trotting cow. We had, as stated, nine camels, dragoman, 
cook, sheik, and three camel drivers, the sheik also acting in 
the capacity of driver. The camel of the cook carried a large 
quantity of provisions and cooking apparatus, with his bedding 
stowed upon it, while upon the top of all he contrived to make 
a comfortable seat for himself. The dragoman rode in a simi- 
lar manner, while sheik and drivers uniformly walked, two of 
them bare-foot — two of them, the dignified sheik included, 
wearing the old fashioned sandals of the days of Abraham. 
We were now fairl}^ started upon our pilgrimage, and boldly 
struck out into the great ocean desert before us. Our course 
lay at first directly along the track of the great caravan route 
to Mecca. A ride of two and a half hours brought us to the 

WELLSOF MOSES. 

These are a cluster of springs — a little oasis in the midst of 
the burning, arid desert. The Arabs call the place Ayun 
Mousa, or Fountain of Moses. IsTo mention is made of this 
place in the journeyings of Israel, but the Arabs have a tradi- 
tion that Moses brought up the water here by striking the 
ground with his rod. Robinson speaks of a scanty vegetation 
existing liere in 1838, but recently some gardens have been 
planted here by persons residing at Suez, who employ Arab 
servants to cultivate the ground, watering it from these wells. 
There are seven of the springs, but the most of the water is 
brackish, and unfit for drinking or cooking. Among the trees 
we noticed the date-palm, the tamarisk, the pomegranate and 
the apricot. A woman came out with a few small heads of 
cabbage and some eggs, proposing to sell them to our drago- 
man. For the eggs she asked a piaster for three, for the cab- 



GARDENS OF THE DESERT. 



231 



bage fifty cents a head. Our camels clrinked a little of the 
water, but did not seem to relish it. 

These fountains are upon an elevation of ground, command- 
ing an extensive view of the country around. As I looked out 
over the plain between this and the sea, I could not resist the 
impression that my eye was resting upon the very ground that 
witnessed the joyful triumphs of Israel over their own deliver- 
ance, and the destruction of their enemies. What an event 
was that to this long oppressed and persecuted people. For 
two hundred and fifteen years had yon mysterious river heard 
their groans, and the fertile fields of yonder valley drinked the 
sweat of their toil. Xow the time of deliverance had come, 
and they were on their way to the Land of Promise. 

Our visit to this green spot, beautiful, not in itself, but fi^om 
its contrast with the desolations that surrounded it, was soon 
over. TTe rode on about two and a half hours, and encamped 
for the night upon the broad plain of sands that stretches 
from the sea-coast away towards the Jebel et Tih. Our cook 
soon had a good supper upon the table — for we had a real table, 
which our dragoman had brought out for our use; we ate with 
a relish labor only can give : retired early, and slept soundly 
and securely. 

SECOND DAY, 

This morninsr we were under wav soon after seven o'clock. 
We were traveling in a southeasterly direction, over an im- 
mense plain of sand. On our right could be seen the blue strip 
of sea, reaching far up and down ; beyond it, the high, naked, 
rocky mountains of the African coast. On our left, the moun- 
tain range of Jebel et Tih, that shut in, like a great giant 
wall, all this portion of the peninsula, while far away in the 
distance, rising high above them all, in sullen majesty and 
grandeur, was the imposing peak of Tusset (cup) Sudhr, the 
king and crowning glory of the range. All day our course lay 
over this monotonous desert of yellow sand, with scarce a tree 
or shrub or living thing of green to cheer the eye. The mo- 
notony of the scene was occasionally broken by the undula- 
tions of some wady or shallow water course, dry as the sand 



J 



232 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



that drifted around us, but where, in rainy seasons, the waters 
find their way to the sea. Sometimes the eye was relieved by 
a bit of table-land that had thus far withstood the action of 
the winds and rains, that have driven or washed all around 
them into the bosom of the sea. Many of these elevations thus 
■left here, present a very singular appearance. They were of 
various bights and shapes, some of them like conical flat- 
topped pyramids, some of them like great frowning towers or 
battlements. In many instances, the layers of sand near the 
surface being harder than those beneath, the softer portions 
were washed away, leaving flat tufts or caps upon the top, 
looking like great giant tables in the wilderness. At 6 o'clock 
we encamped upon a gravelly soil, in the midst of a succession 
of mounds or hillocks. These hills were almost entirely com- 
posed of bowlders and pebbles, all of them having precisely the 
rough and mottled appearanx3e of parboiled flesh, most of them 
also having a soft and greasy feeling. To-morrow we expect 
to visit the bitter fountain of Marah, and are anxious to get an 
early start, that we may make a good day's ride. 

MARAH, OR AIN HAWARA. 

February 27th. This morning, between 11 and 12 o'clock, we 
came to Ain Hawara, the bitter well or fountain ; supposed to 
be the Marah of the Exodus. The Arabic name, Ain Hawara, 
means Fountain of Destruction, In the narrative of the jour- 
neyings of the Israelites we are informed: ''Moses brought 
Israel from the Eed Sea, and they went out into the wilderness 
of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found 
no water; and when they came to Marah they could not drink 
of the waters of Marah, for they were hitter How does this 
locality correspond with the scripture narrative? From the 
fountain of Moses it is sixteen and a half hours' ride, or between 
forty and fifty miles. We cannot suppose the great multitudes 
of Israel, with their flocks and herds of Httle ones, would make 
a journey of over ten to fifteen miles a day. This would have 
brought them on the third day to this fountain. 

During these marches, having found no water, with what ea- 
gerness would they press upon this fountain, as they approached 



THE BIT TEE FOUNTAIN. 



233 



it, and with what disappointment must they have recoiled from 
it when they found it unpalatable, and bitter! hitter! Again the 
clamors of the multitude fell upon the ears of Moses : " "What 
shall we drink? " Moses' refuge and trust was only in God ; to 
him he resorted, and on him he called. The waters were sweet- 
ened by the peculiar virtues of a tree, which, by divine direction, 
was cast into them. 

PRESENTAPPEARANCE OF THE FOUNTAIN. 

It is situated upon a low mound, or round topped elevation, 
only a few rods distant from the direct road. The place where 
the water is found, has a very singular appearance. A rocky 
looking mass, apparently a kind of mineral deposit, left by the 
water during the lapse of many ages, rises up from the mound 
like a large, flat looking haycock. In the top of this is a large, 
uneven indentation, or basin. On one side the rock appears 
to have been split and slightly elevated. In this basin stands a 
pool of water. The fountain is only one to two feet deep, and 
five or six in circumference. I should not think there were over 
two or three barrels of water in it. It is green looking, brack- 
ish, salt and unpleasant, tasting something like a weak solution 
of glauber salts. It does not overflow, though on one side of 
the rocky deposit there is a channel, through which, from ap- 
pearance, the water must formerly have run. 

Our camels did not drink it ; though it is said both camels 
and Arabs will sometimes drink it when pressed with thirst. 
Robinson speaks of seeing here, in 1838, some stunted palm 
trees, and many bushes of a low, thorny shrub, often found in 
this kind of soil, called ghurkood. These thorn trees have 
now entirely disappeared, and all around the fountain is a bar- 
ren plateau of sand, impregnated with saline particles. A little 
distance from the spring is the stump of a palm tree, now near- 
ly destroyed, and a little further oft' a clump of palm leaves, 
green and flourishing. These, with a few scattered desert 
weeds, comprise all the vegetation now to be seen in the 
place. There can be no doubt but there was formerh' much 
more, both of vegetation and of water, existing here than at 
present. The causes that have been operating in other portions 



234 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



of the desert, of which we shall speak hereafter, have also ex- 
erted their influence here. 

THE SWEETENING OF THE WATERS. 

The greatness of the miracle wrought by Moses in making 
these waters palatable, has been discussed by various writers. 
Some have been disposed to account for the phenomenon from 
natural causes alone ; some contend that there are several veg- 
etable productions that have the property of neutralizing the 
unpleasant mineral properties of brackish waters. The Span- 
iards of Florida, we are told, sometimes use sassafras, while 
on the Coramandel coast another species of tree is used by the 
natives. But can we infer from this that any correctives of 
that nature were applied here ? Others, again, tell us that the 
berries of this same species of thorny bush, the ghurkood, that 
former travelers found growing here, had the rare property of 
sweetening the waters. But admitting that these berries had 
this remarkable quality, how could they have been procured at 
the time the Israelites came to this fountain. The Israelites 
left Egypt at the time of the passover, and must have been at 
this place only two or three weeks later, and the berries of this 
shrub do not ripen till some time in June. Besides, it is not 
now known that they possess any such healing quality. Rob- 
inson says when here, he made frequent and diligent inquiries 
among the Arabs, whether they knew any process for thus 
sweetening water, either by means of berries, or the bark, or 
leaves of any plant, and was invariably answered in the nega- 
tive. 

As I stood upon this elevation, by the side of this strange 
fountain, and looked out upon the surrounding country, my 
imagination peopled it with the many thousands of Israel, now 
fairly upon their march to the heart of this great desert, to en- 
camp before the Mount of God. They had seen his wonders 
in dividing the great waters ; the strange miracle of sweeten- 
ing the bitter ones. Here God proved them, and here he made 
for them a statute and an ordinance. Here he spoke to them 
and said : " If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the 
Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and 



AN OASIS IN THE DESERT. 



23b 



wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I 
will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought 
upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee." 
They were now put upon their good behavior, with the promise 
of blessing and protection for obedience. God had loosed their 
bonds; by his power they had been delivered, and now they 
were peculiarly his people. "We are now to follow upon their 
track, and have other places of their encampments to visit. 
By reference to the map, the different stations and the general 
course pursued can be readily seen. From Marah a ride of 
about two hours and a half brought us to 

WADY GHURUNDEL OR ELIM. 

This is supposed to be one of the camping places of the Is- 
raelites mentioned in the Exodus. "And they came to Elim, 
where were twelve wells of water and three score and ten palm 
trees, and they encamped there by the waters." Exodus xv. 
27. From Ain Hawara this would have been for them about 
a half days' journey, and being one of the best camping 
grounds in all this region, it is not probable they would have 
passed it without availing themselves of the luxury of its shady 
trees and refreshing waters. The principal fountains are about 
half an hour's ride down the valley from where the direct road 
crosses. 

We had taken a good supply of drinking water from the 
"sweet" Mle at Cairo, and had no need of replenishing our 
stock. We, however, made a visit to these fountains. We 
found no streams of running water, such as other travelers 
have described as existing here. The wells, or springs they 
should rather be called, are made by digging in the dry chan- 
nel a hole from one to two feet deep, and the water filters in 
through the sand and gravel. The earth around seemed im- 
pregated with saline particles. The water, though called sweet, 
had an earthy, brackish taste, far inferior to our ^^'ile water. 
The camels drinked it freely. 

There is more vegetation here than we had found in any 
place since leaving the valley of the Mle. But I could not, as 
many travelers do, go into raptures over the beauties of these 
14 



236 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



occasional oases, that relieve the cheerlessness of the barren 
desert. In a fertile country, they would be comparatively deso- 
late places ; but abounding in the midst of these arid wastes, 
they are welcome and cheerful spots. "While the whole 
desert," says one, " is almost absolutely bare and barren, Wady 
Ghuruudel is fringed with trees and shrubs, forming a charm- 
ing oasis. Here are the stunted palms, with their hairy trunks 
and disheveled branches. Here, too, are the feathery tamarisks, 
with gnarled boughs, their leaves dripping with what the Arabs 
call manna. And here is the acacia, with its gray foliage and 
bright blossoms, tangled by its desert growth into a thicket. 
Pleasant is the acacia to the sight wearied by the desert glare, 
but it has a higher and holier interest as the tree of the * Burn- 
ing Bush,' and the ^ shittimwood ' of the Tabernacle." 

The tamarisk that ''fringes the valley" is of a sickly and 
stunted growth, and far from being abundant. Those that 
stand near the water course, give evidence of the powerful cur- 
rents that wash through this wady in times of freshet, the 
lower branches being filled to the hight of several feet with 
mud, decayed leaves, bits of brush and the like, that have been 
left among them as the waters subsided. Those that stand at 
a distance from the water-course are choked and nearly suffo- 
cated by the great heaps of drifting sands that lodge around 
the roots, and bury their trunks and lowest brainches to the 
depth of several feet. Many of them are dead and dying from 
this cause alone. 

The acacia trees have mostly disappeared, and of those that 
remain we sought for one that would afford us protection 
during the hour of our lunch from the fierce rays of the noon- 
tide sun. But the vegetation of the most luxuriant one was 
not sufficient to afford us any thiog but partial protection. 
The palm trees, that were once the glory of the place, are also 
passing away. Scarce a vestige of them is left in the immedi- 
ate vicinity of the springs. A short distance above, just where 
the main route crosses, a few of them are found, but they have 
been robbed and dwarfed by the same desolating causes of ne- 
glect and depradation on one hand, and the hostile power of the 
desert upon the other, that seems destined to obliterate from 



DECAY OF VEGETATION. 



237 



these places every green thing. I counted between fifteen and 
twenty of these sickly trees scattered here and there in the vi- 
cinity of the fountains — all that are left as a memorial of the 
three score and 'ten that flourished here in the days of the Exo- 
dus. The trunk of one lay in moldering ruins upon the ground ; 
upon the roots and young twigs of another, the reckless Arabs 
had recently kindled a fire, and doomed it to destruction. 

BATHS OF PHARAOH. 

Having finished our visit at Elim, we passed on, picturing in 
our imagination the scene when, nearly thirty-five hundred 
years ago, the Israelites pitched their tents in this valley, and 
refreshed themselves from these fountains. How^ difterent from 
Marah ! There they had bitter water and a scanty supply ; here 
they had sweet water, and a well for every tribe, while the date 
palm and the acacia spread for them an inviting shade. As 
Ave passed on, at a distance upon our right, upon the borders of 
the sea, are the so called Baths of Pharaoh. 

It is a warm, sulphurous fountain, springing from the base 
of the mountain cliffs, that here constitute the barrier of the 
sea. Between us and them were the tall, desolate mountain 
range, known in Arabic phrase as Jehel Hummam, the Hill of 
the Bath. Where these springs make their appearance, the 
cliffs rise almost perpendicularly from the sea to a mountain al- 
titude and sublimity. The temperature of the water is about 
150° Fahrenheit. They break out from a lower chalk strata, 
nearly on a level with the sea. The water leaves a deposit of 
common salt mixed with sulphur. Hot vapors also issue from 
the cavernous crevices of the rocks in the vicinity. The Arabs 
have a fantastic tradition with regard to these springs. Ac- 
cording to this, they are the bubblings of the last breath of 
Pharaoh, as he sunk into the sea, unknelled, except by the roar 
of the mighty waters; uncoffined, except by the winding sheet 
of ocean foam. 

APPEARANCE OP THE COUNTRY. 

Soon after leaving Elim, or Wady Ghurundel, the aspect of 
the country began to change. It became first more undulating 



238 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



and then broken, soon assuming a wild, rough and dreary as 
pect, rising into hills and broken cliffs, and sometimes moun- 
tain peaks. But any thing was a relief from the oppressive 
monotony of the desert over which we had been for three days 
traveling. I had expected to find here a desert, and a sterile 
one, but I had not expected to find a region so utterly destitute 
of animal and vegetable life. 

Here you ride on hour after hour, and, indeed, day after day, 
and all around you is one wide- spread scene of desolation — 
plains of sand, barren hills, or naked mountain peaks. A few 
stubborn-looking, hardy plants, here and there, draw a scanty 
sustenance from the penurious soil, and struggle for existence 
in the midst of the barrenness that surrounds them. ISTo grass 
plat, seldom a bush or tree cheers the sight. E'o song of bird 
falls upon the ear, no groves spread their branches to play with 
the wandering breezes or gather from them a tribute of music 
as they pass. Occasionally you may hear the hoarse croak of a 
raven by day, or the mock laugh of some prowling hyena by 
night, as they seek a meal upon the carcass of some unfortunate 
camel that has sunk by the way under the weight of his bur- 
den. Your eyes ache with the intense glare .of the sun re- 
flected from the burning sand; you are oppressed with the 
gloomy monotony, the profound stillness, the awful solitude 
that seems every where to shut you in. As you contemplate 
the scene, you appreciate the kind Providence that in more fa- 
vored climes has carpeted the earth with verdure, and adorned 
it with fertile vales and fruitful groves. A ride of a little more 
than two hours from Elim brought us to 

WADY USEIT. 

Here again we found a few palms, tamarisks and acacia 
trees, similar in character to those we have before described. 
The ground here was incrusted with a white accumulation of 
salt, and the water that stood in the pools in the now dry bed 
of the stream, was so salt and brackish as to be unfit for use. 
From this wady the road branches, and two different routes 
lead to Sinai ; one by the singular ruins and sculptures of Su- 
rabit el Khadim, the other by Wady Mukatteb, the " Written 



MAN]S"EE OF ENCAMPING. 



239 



Valley;" our arrangement is to go by the latter and return by 
the former. So for the present ^ve keep the right hand route, 
which will lead us to the sea. 

In this valley, after a long and fatiguing day's ride, we pitched 
our tents and made our encampment for the niglit. It seemed 
strange to be traveling like the snail, carrying ail our earthly 
possessions upon our backs, or rather the backs of our camels. 
There is a kind of freedom about it tbat gives one an unusual 
independence of feeling. We began to understand something 
of the immunities of the wild Bedawin, in his free range of the 
desert, only that his incumbrances are far less than ours. He 
is entangled by few ties, troubled with but a scanty wardrobe, 
trammeled with, a meagre outfit for life, and with but few em- 
barrassments, enjoys the wide domain of his desert home. 

The reader may be curious to know something more of our 
mode of encamping, and of our arrangements for the night. 
As we had generally some sight-seeing to do, and excursions to 
make from the main route, and usually stopped an hour for our 
lunch at noon, our baggage camels, with the cook and two of 
the drivers, kept directly on without making any stop. In this 
wa^y- they usually gained a few miles of us in the course of the 
day, and stopped anil erected the tents at an hour or place 
before agreed upon by the dragoman. We had one tent large 
enough for the accommodation of three. The dragoman and 
cook had a small tent in which they slept, while our escort, 
sheik and drivers, took their rest upon a blanket spread upon 
the ground in the open air, or crouched by the side of a re- 
cumbent camel. On reaching the camping ground, we usually 
found our tent ready, and our supper in process of preparation. 
The several classes that attend us are very punctilious about 
the division of labor. The cook will never lift a finp-er to do 
any thing aside from his legitimate duties of preparing the 
food and taking care of his household goods. The drivers will 
do nothing but load and take care of their camels ; while the 
dragoman, as chief captain of the whole, is expected only to 
give the word of command, without touching his hand to a sin- 
gle thing. The Arabs seem strangely averse to any kind of 
hard labor or drudgery, and they go about it with a reluctance 



240 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



and tardiness peculiarly provoking to one who has any occasion 
for haste. It was sometimes amusing to see our dragoman 
whose patience would occasionally come to an end, fly at them 
and lay his camel shillalah about their shoulders with a vigoi 
that must have left its sting behind. 

The camels, relieved of their ponderous burdens, were first 
turned out for an hour or two to browse, if perchance any green 
thing could be found. In most of our camping places there 
were a few wiry, desert shrubs and weeds, from which they 
could glean a few mouthfuls. Before dark they were brought 
together, made to lie down, and their legs hampered, when each 
received from four to six quarts of grain, generally a mixture 
of corn, barley and peas. This they ate from a bag tied over 
the head, as we sometimes see our draymen in the city feeding 
their horses. This one feed was frequently all the poor animals 
received in the whole twenty-four hours. 

THE ARAB SUPPER. 

This was simple and easily prepared. A goatskin bottle for 
their water, a drinking cup, and a small iron kettle that would 
hold about five or six quarts, seemed to constitute their entire 
outfit. I did not see them have any meat while I was with 
them, though they might have procured it occasionally from 
other Arabs as they journeyed. They had with them a bag 
of meal, I should think a mixture of corn and barley, and a 
few dried dates. This seemed to constitute the main portion 
of their living. In preparing their supper, they first gathered 
a little pile of dried roots, or withered desert shrubs, or camel 
dung, and kindled a small fire. Then, if the supper was to be 
pudding, the kettle was placed over the fire with the requisite 
quantity of water, and the meal stirred in and boiled. If bread 
was required, the kettle was used as a kneading trough ; the 
dough was flattened into a cake about one-half an inch thick, 
and put into the sand, ashes and embers, and baked. This, with 
a few figs or raisins, constituted their meal, and two meals a day 
was all they took. Supper ended, they sat and talked till 9 or 
10 o'clock, sometimes having a visitor from the tent of some 



LIFE IN THE DESERT. 



241 



wandering crony. At bed time, if the night was not too cold, 
they would lay down upon a blanket near their fire. If the night 
was uncomfortable, or a cold wind was blowing, they brought 
the camels into a sort of semicircle, and made them lie down near 
together, and then crouched down close under them, and kept 
as comfortable as this kind of shelter and the warmth of the 
animals' bodies could make them. It seemed to me like a 
cheerless, desolate life. 

OUR OWN FARE. 

For ourselves, our dragoman had made provision for an am- 
ple supply. The cook had a good outfit — a light sheet-iron ap- 
paratus for cooking, and a supply of charcoal for fuel. Our 
tent was comfortable, our beds in good order, and had it not 
been for the fleas which seemed to constitute a regular part of 
the caravan, traveling when we traveled, and camping when 
we camped, we should have had no annoyance that would have 
particularly disturbed our repose. 

One camel was specially set apart to carry the water. Two 
casks, nearly as large as barrels, were slung by means of ropes 
like a pair of panniers across his back. It was, at first, a sturdy 
load, but as it grew lighter day by day, other portions of the 
luggage was assigned him, and piled upon the tops of the bar- 
rels. We took water from Wady Ghurundel for washing, and 
again from Feiran for cooking, but w^e preferred our Kile water 
for drinking to any we found in these wadys ; and using our 
stock sparingly for other purposes, we had enough to last us 
for our common beverage till we reached Mount Sinai. Our 
dragoman filled a common leather bottle from the cask each 
morning, hung it upon the horn of his camel's saddle, and from 
this we drinked during the day. It seemed strange to be drink- 
ing water we had carried upon the backs of camels for more 
than a week and over two hundred miles. At first, I thought 
I could never stomach any beverage from those dirty looking 
goatskin bottles. But when one finds himself in a desert coun- 
try, parched with thirst, or faint with hunger, it is astonishing 
how easily the citadel of his scruples as to what he eats and 



242 



EGYPT AINTD SINAI. 



drinks is demolished; and how he swallows with a relish what, 
under other circumstances, he would turn from with disgust ! 

OUR CHICKENS 

Were among the novel things of our outfit. Between thirty 
and forty of them, in a large wicker cage, perched upon the 
topmost part of a tall camel's load, rode out the weary days 
At night they were set upon the ground, and their door thrown 
open, when they sallied out in quest of food and water, stroll- 
ing about the camp, stealing a few barley corns from the cam 
els and picking at the cook's delicacies, making themselves af 
much at home as though they felt themselves to be a part of 
the household. As the shades of evening crept on, they would 
huddle again into their little grated prison, and allow the door 
to be closed upon them. Poor things ! they seemed conscious 
it was their only home ; they had no where else to go. The 
dreary desert offered no inducements to desertion. Happy 
chickens, I used sometimes to say, with thee, ignorance is bliss 
Daily, from some invisible cause — ^^perhaps the cook could have 
explained it — their numbers diminished ; not one of them ever 
returned to the land of civilization. 

I am detaining you too long with these particulars of life in 
the desert. Few travelers think them worth mentioning at all, 
and yet they will be of interest to many. Our supper is ready; 
sit down with us, and see how you will enjoy a repast in this 
lone solitude of the desert. Upon this very ground Israel 
gathered manna, and here God sent them quails. He spread a 
table for them in the wilderness. Our viands have not been 
prepared by such direct and miraculous intervention, and yet 
we are > no less indebted to his unsparing bounty for what we 
now enjoy. Let us lift our hearts in gratitude to him. 

You see we have good bread. It is French make, and was 
brought from Cairo. We have enough of it to last us to Sinai, 
where we expect to get a supply for our return from the monks 
at the convent. First we have soup, then a dish of roast mut- 
ton, w^ith potatoes and cauliflower. 'Next comes a course of 
stewed chicken, then a desert of plumb pudding, with oranges 
and raisins. This is followed by a good cup of coffee, with 



THE SINAITIC PENINSULA. 



243 



sugar, and goat's or camel's milk, if the dragoman can get it; 
if not, it is good enough without. Now pipes if you choose — I 
never smoke; it is a foolish, useless and often injurious prac- 
tice. What say you to our bill of fare ? Many a one amidst the 
abundance of civilization fares worse. And now we have an 
hour or two before we retire. One of them we may spend in 
writing our journal of the day ; during the other let us take 

A VIEW OF THE COUNTRY. 

Turn to the map on page 10, and which, for the convenience 
of the reader, has been reduced to a small size. You will there 
see that of the two gulfs forming the head of the Eed Sea, 
Suez reaches much farther to the northward than Akaba. 
Standing at Suez and casting the eye eastward towards the 
head of the gulf of Akaba, you are looking over an immense 
extent of desert called Et Tih, " The desert of the Wanderings." 
It is supposed to take its name from the wanderings of the 
children of Israel. It is an immense plateau or table-land ; its 
average elevation above the sea is about fifteen hundred feet. 
It is made up of vast rolling plains, with a hard, gravelly soil, 
sometimes intersected by chalky mounds, low, irregular, lime- 
stone ridges and dry valleys ; the whole almost entirely desti- 
tute of vegetation. The range of mountains are at first called 
Jebel Eahah, then Jebel et Tih. The course of this range is at 
first south by east; as it approaches the Sinai range it sweeps 
away around to the eastward, and terminates in bold cliffs near 
the head of the gulf of Akaba. Shut in by this mountain 
range and this plateau of desert upon the north, and upon the 
other sides by these two great arms of the sea, is the peninsula 
proper, and the Sinaitic group of mountains. These barren 
deserts of Arabia are not, as many suppose, immense extents 
of drifting sands. There are occasionally, in the lower portions, 
sandstone strata, with loose beds of sands driven from place to 
place by the winds, but these form the exception; a great por- 
tion of the surface of the desert, even of its level plains, is firm, 
dry and gravelly. 

Immediately south of the Raha and Jebel et Tih range, is a 
narrow tract of sandstone strata, abounding with loose, drifting 



244 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



sand. This is called Debet er Ramleh, the Plain of Sand. Im- 
mediately south of this begin the mountains of Tur or Tor, the 
true highlands of the peninsula. You will see by our course, as 
marked out upon the map, we have been following along near- 
ly in the direction of the sea coast, and are now near Elim. "We 
are just entering among these high mountain ranges of the 8i- 
naitic region. Among its sublime, jagged hights, and deep, 
rocky ravines, we shall soon be shut in, and shut out, as it were^ 
from the rest of the world. Here our eyes will be greeted by 
the sublime and cloud-capped hights of Serbal and St. Catha- 
rine; and here, too, we shall stand by the Mount of God, 
whither he brought his people, and where, as in a school, he 
taught them his law, and unfolded the knowledge of his name. 

February 2Sth. The morning dawned bright and beautiful, 
the sun looked out from his cloudless throne in the heavens, 
and kissed these barren hills and jagged rocks as sweetly as 
though they had been the most beautiful spots on earth. Our 
dragoman called us at 5 o'clock; at 6 o'clock we were seated 
around our breakfast table, and by 7 o'clock every thing was 
loaded, and the camp was in motion. Myself and companions 
walked on for an hour or more ahead of our camels. The days 
during this season of the year are not oppressively warm ; in 
the middle of the day we needed the shelter of an umbrella 
The nights were cool, so much so that we needed our shawl? 
and overcoats upon our beds, in addition to the quilt furnished 
by our dragoman. As we ascend into the mountainous region 
we shall probably find the nights still colder. We are now 
traveling upon the main caravan route leading to Tor, in the 
southern portion of the peninsula. Yesterday we met three 
companies of camels and Arabs going to Suez. One of these 
were loaded with charcoal, carried in large sacks hung across 
the backs of the camels; another company were carrying grind- 
stones, manufactured somewhere in the interior. 

THE INHABITANTS OF THE PENINSULA. 

This country is emphatically the home of the Bedawin. 
There are five diflerent tribes occupying different portions of 
the peninsula, but they are all known under the general name 



THE TAWARA ARABS. 



245 



of Tawara, and if occasion demands, all band together, and fight 
under one chief, foreigners can travel through here except 
under their guard and guidance. They claim the whole region 
south of the Eaha and Tih range of mountains. Travelers 
coming to Sinai from Syria by Akaba, can come to the convent 
under the escort of the more northern tribes, but such escorts 
are allowed to come no farther than the convent. There their 
mission must end, and when the travelers leave the convent it 
must be under the escort of the Tawara. 

Their number is comparatively small, the whole peninsula 
south of the Tih mountains probably containing not more than 
five thousand souls, perhaps not more than four thousand. The 
general character of the Bedawin Arabs is well known. They 
are a strange race — a wild, roving, lawless people. Ishmael 
was their father, and his character was announced by the angel 
of God before he was born : " He will be a wild man : his hand 
will be against every man, and every man's hand against him." 
Gen. xvi. 12. What was uttered then as a prophetic declara- 
tion, has been fulfilled in every one of his children for four 
thousand years. 

The Tawara are said to be inferior in wealth, courage and 
even personal appearance to the Bedawin of the eastern plains. 
This may arise in part from the secluded portion they have so 
long occupied, with less of stirring adventure to call out their 
peculiar qualities. They are confined to a limited extent of 
country, possessing few springs and scanty pasturage. A few 
sheep or goats, a single camel, and sometimes a donkey, form 
about the average wealth of each tent. The sheik who can 
number six camels is deemed a Orcesus. Still they are diflerent 
in many respects from the other Bedawin tribes. They are said 
to be obliging, tractable and faithful, and what is still more 
rare, they are said to be honest. All Bedawin s are thieves by 
profession, but among these Tawara tribes, robberies are said 
to be unknown. An article of dress, a piece of furniture, or an 
old tent may be left upon a rock for months together; its owner 
will find it safe when he returns. A camel falls dead beneath 
his load in the open desert. His master draws a circle round 
it with his stick, and sets ofi" to his tribe, perhaps two or three 



246 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



day's journey distant, to seek another animal; and though 
hundreds pass the spot in the interval, not a hand is stretched 
out to steal. The grain and principal valuables of many of the 
sheiks are stowed away in little buildings among the moun- 
tains, and may not be visited during a greater part of the sea- 
son, yet they are never violated. In confirmation of this, our 
own sheik brought with him a few bushels of grain from Cairo : 
I saw him stow it away in one of these rock-built deposits in 
the mountain side, at some distance from his family tents, and 
though I could see no way of rendering it secure from the law- 
less plunderer, he left it with as little appearance of anxiety as 
he would if it had found a deposit in the bottom of a banker's 
vault. In this trait of character, they seem closely allied to the 
Indians of our western forests. 

A LOOK AT OUR SHEIK. 

He is worthy of a moment's special attention as a specimen 
of his race. He is of middle hight, spare built, about forty-five 
years of age, has a keen, piercing, black eye, walks as erect and 
straight as an American Indian, with a light, elastic step. His 
dress is in strict conformity with the costumes of the desert. 
He wears a cotton shirt, open at the breast, and reaching to the 
knees. It was not ^' dyed in the wool," but has contracted its 
hues from long continued use. It bears no marks of ever having 
been washed, and is fringed at the bottom, not by the delicate 
fingers of art, but by the wear and tear of age. Around the 
waist he w^ears a strap or belt, to which is hung a short, clumsy 
sword, about eighteen inches long, kept in an old, dilapidated 
wooden scabbard, bound at the top and pointed at the bottom 
with bands of iron. Tacked into the belt is an old, rusty 
horse-pistol, with a flint lock. These are all the arms he carries 
and all, indeed, to be seen in our company. As our escort, he 
evidently has made no calculations on fighting his way. Over 
his shirt, suspended from his shoulders, he wears a long, ragged 
woolen or goat's hair blanket, of alternate stripes of dirty- 
white and dingy-black. This he wears loosely or wraps tightly 
around him, as the weather or inclination dictates. His head- 
dress is as unique and ornamental as the other portions of his 



BESEKT COSTUMES. 



247 



costume. He does not wear the turban, but what is here called 
the kafiyeh — an old handkerchief, or kind of long scarf, striped 
with two or three different colors, fringed and dirty — thrown 
over his head, the ends hanging down upon his shoulders. 
This is secured in its place, and makes a sort of bonnet, by a 
band of camel's hair tied around the forehead. This, with an 
old fashioned pair of sandals, or piece of camel's hide held on 
to the bottom of the feet by leather straps, like a boy's skates, 
completes his toilet. 

Such is a fair and unexaggerated description of our sheik — 
one among the finest men, and best costumes of the desert. I 
confess that in the chambers of my imagination, I had hung 
up a very different picture of the race. I had associated them 
in my mind with all that was noble, chivalrous and daring. I 
had expected to see them on fierce, handsome chargers, in rich, 
flowing costume, with long spears and golden-hilted swords, 
dashing about the desert in wild and heroic bands. Alas! 
"'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view." How often 
actual contact with the scenes of life dissipates the beautiful 
imagery of our dreaming fancies. 

THE COMMON DRESS. 

The usual dress worn in the desert is inferior to that of our 
sheik. One of our drivers had only the cotton frock, bound at 
the waist by a string for a belt. Too poor to own a blanket, 
he carried a common sized sheep-skin with the wool on. To 
the flesh side of this he contrived to attach a string in the form 
of a handle, through which he could slip his head and one arm, 
wearing it as a warrior would his shield. When the north 
wind came upon one side too cold for comfort, he would slip it 
around so as to ward off the breeze. When the sun climbed 
into the heavens and poured down his hot rays from the south, 
he would slip it to the other side to protect him from the heat, 
I was surprised to see with what facility he used it, and how in 
all weathers he managed to make it available for his comfort ; 
and then it answered for a bed at night. 

Another one had worn his old tunic until a change had be- 
come absolutely necessary. With the greatest independence 



248 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



imaginable, lie drew out of one of the camel sacks a bundle of 
cotton cloth, bought, I suppose, in Cairo, ripped it in pieces 
to his liking, and holding the main portion under one arm, 
followed on after the camels, sewing the seams as he walked; 
and in the course of a few hours, like the snake, he shed hk 
coat and made his appearance clothed in a bran new costume 
from head to foot. Such is the facility, simplicity and econo- 
my with which these children of the desert manage their do- 
mestic concerns and expenditures. 

SINGULAR MARRIAGE CUSTOM. 

The customs of this singular people are many of them pe- 
culiar. In marriage the preliminary process of courtship is 
not called into requisition. The lady belongs to the father; he 
sets his price upon her, regulated according to the dignity of 
his own position and her beauty. She is to be bought, not 
won. The price is said to range from live to thirty dollars. 
The bargain completed, the bridegroom receives a green branch 
of a tree or shrub, which he sticks in his turban, and wears for 
three days, to show that he is espoused to a virgin. During all 
this time the young lady may be totally ignorant of the trans- 
action. She comes home, perhaps, at evening, having been 
out, like Rebecca of old, leading her father's flocks. A short 
distance from the camp she is met by her "intended," accom- 
panied by a couple of his young friends, who adroitly seize her 
and carry her by force to her father's tent. In this, however, 
great caution and expertness is necessary, for if the damsel at 
all suspects their designs before they get near enough to seize 
her, she fights like a fury, defending herself with stones, and 
often iDflicting severe wounds, though she may not feel alto- 
gether indifferent to her lover. This defense is desert etiquette, 
and the more she struggles, bites, kicks and screams, the higher 
she ever afterwards stands in the estimation of her com- 
panions. 

At last vanquished and carried to her tent, one of the bride- 
groom's friends throws a covering over her head, and then pro- 
nounces the name of her husband, of which, up to that moment, 



COURTSHIP IN THE DESERT. 



249 



she may have been entirely ignorant. She is then arrayed by 
her mother and female friends in new costume, placed npon 
the back of a gaily decked camel, and though still struggling 
to release herself from the grasp of her husband's friends, she 
is paraded three times around the teut. She is then, amid the 
shouts of the assembled encampment, carried into the tent, and 
the ceremony is over. 

Arbitrary as this mode of disposing of a damsel may seem, 
and abrupt and summary as the consummation of the espousals 
may be, it is not probable, after all, that they are conducted, as 
a general thing, without some reference to the wishes and opin- 
ions of the fair one. Instances there may be, as we still find 
even in the midst of the highest civilization, where a selfish, 
cold-hearted, calculating father would affiance a daughter, 
without reference to her affections, to a man she did not and 
could not love, for the attainment of some mercenary end ; but 
such is not often the case, even in the city or the desert. These 
rude, swarthy, uncultivated sons of the desert, share in all the 
warm affections of our common humanity; and fathers love 
their children, and are far from being indifferent tp their hap- 
piness. 

Besides, the lapse of four thousand years has not changed 
the habits this simple people have inherited from the Abra- 
hamic age. The Arab maiden still leads forth her father's 
sheep, and often comes in contact with the young men of the 
tribe ; and still taught by nature, her virgin modesty, like an 
unsullied vail, screenes her, and the breath of scandal is seldom 
breathed against her. And yet, where Jacob met Eebecca, 
ay, where in this very desert Moses found his wife — around 
the springs and wells the young men do, by strange chance, 
help the girls draw water for their flocks. And who knows 
what looks of affection are exchanged, and what tales of love 
are breathed into apparently listless ears ; and what watchful 
parent's eye is not quick to catch the course in which the cur- 
rent runs? And how often that same young man at these 
places may have met a welcome reception from that same dam- 
sel, who at last was constrained by the etiquette of her tribe to 



250 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



resist by blows, kicks and screams, what, in her inmost heart, 
she most devoutly desired to see consummated. 

WADY TAIYIBEH. 

While we have been indulging in this view of Bedawin man- 
ners and customs, we have passed the place where the road 
branches. The left hand route leads to Sinai by the curious 
ruins and sculptures of Surabit el Khadim; but we intended to 
return that way, and shall see them then. We have turned 
into Wady Taiyibeh, and are taking our course towards the 
sea. In this wady there is also water — now a running stream 
— but it is salt and brackish. Here, too, we find the usual scanty 
vegetation that fringes, with a sickly verdure, these water- 
courses — an occasional palm-tree, now and then a dwarf, sick- 
ly-looking acacia, and the feathery tamarisk. As we ride on, 
the valley seems again to narrow upon us; we pass between the 
huge cliffs that rise up on either side, sometimes white and 
chalky, sometimes black and dismal. On we ride, wondering 
what change will next meet us in the ever varying scenery of 
this strange looking country. We are straining our eyes down 
through a long opening. What do we see ? Is it a distant line 
of sky and a bank of fleecy clouds? ^To, it is the sea — the 
deep blue sea — its white crested waves breaking upon its clean 
pebbly shore. What a refreshing sight ! And now a broad, 
sandy plain opens upon our right and left, and stretches away 
to the shell-strown beach. It is the place of the 

ENCAMPMENT BY THE SEA. 

We were struck by the correspondence of this with the scrip- 
ture narrative. And they removed from Elim and camped 
by the Eed Sea." ll^umb. xxxiii. 10. Thus far we seemed to 
have been following directly upon the track pursued by the 
children of Israel, in their journey from the divided waters to- 
wards the Mount of God. Often the thought would arise: 
"Is it possible that these paths, along which our camels are 
now winding their way, are the very ones over which the 
ransomed hosts, of Israel made their way to the Promised 
Land?" 



'THE WILDEENESS OF SIN. 



251 



After our long desert ride, the sight of the clear, cool water 
of the sea was truly refreshing. Soon we were close upon its 
sandy shore. It was a tempation not to be resisted. Four 
days we had been riding in the heat and sand, with a scanty 
allowance of water for face and hands. A few minutes more, 
and we were enjoying a most refreshing bath in the inviting 
waters. 

PLAIN OF MURKAH AND WADY SHELLAL. 

From the entrance of Wady Taiyibeh to the place where we 
stopped by the sea, w^as a ride of about two hours. Our bath 
was over, and we had spread a blanket upon the sand — for w^e 
could find no shade of tree or rock — and refreshed ourselves 
with a noonday lunch, and again our camels were lazily wend- 
ing their way over the sandy plain. 

For nearly an hour we followed along near the shore, then 
passing round a projecting point of rocks that drove us clear 
into the water, it being high tide, we emerged upon the oppo- 
site side. These headlands are called Zelima, and the broad, 
level field over which we were now passing, is called the Plain 
of Murkah, and over this plain probably a portion of the Isra- 
elites spread themselves when encamped by the sea. It is from 
ten to fifteen miles broad, and as many deep. Some travelers 
have called it beautiful, but it is only so from its contrast with 
the bleak hills and rocky mountain gorges among which we 
had spent the preceding day. It has a fountain of water, but 
like the rest of the desolate country we had left behind us, it 
lacked one essential requisite of a beautiful and inviting place 
— it was almost entirely destitute of verdure — no carpet of 
green, no tree casting its inviting shade, only here and there a 
dwarf, scrubby looking desert shrub. This country by the sea 
shore is supposed to be the Wilderness of Sin, spoken of in 
Exodus xvi. 1, in connection with which the astonishing mira- 
cle of the quails and the manna is first mentioned. 

A ride of two or three hours, and we had left the barren 
plain behind us, and again entered the mountain ranges by a 
pass called "Wady Shellal, " The Valley of the Cataracts." The 
entrance to this was both grand and beautiful. The lofty hills 
15 



252 



EGYPT AXD SIXAI. 



reared their huge rocky forms and barren, craggy peaks on 
either side. The narrow pass was level and sandj^ — smooth as 
a house floor. It seemed as though it had been graded and 
smoothed, and swept by the hand of art. We coukl hardly re- 
sist the impression that it was the avenue to some lordly man- 
sion. Two or three short turns in this magnificent thorough- 
fare brought the bills in circles around us, and completely shut 
us in. This beautiful and imposing entrance to the Sinaitic 
range the Arabs dignified with the name Babel (gate) of TTady 
Shellal. 

As we passed on, this beautiful defile narrowed upon us. 
The great hills seemed to shove themselves together at the 
base. Dirt, stone — huge bowlders — had fallen down from the 
bights above us, as if they would block up the passage. We 
were now rapidly ascending from the level of the sea. For an 
hour or more we climbed along the rocky ascent, and having 
entered TV^ady Badereh, we pitched our tents among these 
mountain fortresses. A long day of eleven hours' hard toil 
had wearied the body and invigorated the stomach. Our fru- 
gal supper was soon dispatched, and we laid our weary limbs 
upon our camp beds to rest, the mountains round about our 
bulwarks, the everlasting God our guardian. 

March 1st. The sun had clambered high above the horizon 
before he could look in upon us from over the mountain barriers, 
among which we had enjoyed a night of quiet and refreshing 
sleep. The night was the warmest one we had yet experienced. 
It was the first morning we had passed in the desert so mild 
that we could comfortably dispense with our overcoats. 

By 7 o'clock our camp-fires were left behind, and we were 
again toiling along our diflicult mountain pathway. We had 
wondered at the rough paths and hard road yesterday, but we 
found we had more difficult ones before us to-day. We con- 
tinued our course up Wady Badereh. The mountains were 
wild and of strange and various colors; sometimes a dark green 
base, and rising far above it a lofty summit of red. Occasion- 
ally some mountain shrub had found a lodging place for its 
roots among the rocky crevices, and high up the side of some 
beetling clilF seemed suspended in the air. From other places 



CLIMBING AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 253 



the caper plant hung in green festoons from the precipitous 
rocks, in strange contrast with the general bleakness and ste- 
rility of the scene. 

We had now to scale a mountain ascent, or rather staircase, 
called ^Tukb Badereh, and the pass was harder than the name, 
which means " The Pass of the Sword's Point." Slowly we 
toiled along our rocky way, our camels, at times, scarcely able 
to find a place for their feet in the natural, and in some places 
artificial, staircases of the mountain. Is'early to this point we 
had been passing a limestone formation; now we entered upon 
a region of sandstone — sandstone bowlders, cliffs and mountains 
around us, beneath us, and often with frowning aspect hanging 
over us. Having for sometime climbed along the mountain side, 
we again found ourselves descending, though still in "Wady Ba- 
dereh. Before emerging from this mountain pass, we rode by 
a wild mountain gorge upon our left called 

WADY MAGHARA, "THE VALLEY OF THE CAVE." 

This we had not made arrangements to visit, and we give 
our readers a brief description of it found in Murray's Guide 
Book. After speaking of its singular caverns, and more sin- 
gular sculptures, he says : " The antiquarian will luxuriate in 
such a spot as this, looking back through the dim spectacles 
of showman-like sculptures and queer hieroglyphics into the 
misty ages of remote antiquity. But far though the antiqua- 
rian may look back, the geologist will as far outstrip him, for 
he will tell us of the formation, countless centuries back, of those 
veins of ore which the sculpture-carving miners came here to 
dig out and carry oft' to Egypt. The valley was first visited by 
Laborde, who states that the rock has been worked for the 
purpose of extracting the copper found in the freestone. A 
long, subterraneous series of pillars formed in the rock, and 
now incumbered by the rushing in of the rains, and of the 
sands which have there found refuge, still exhibit traces of the 
labors formerly prosecuted in that direction. Lepsius was here 
more recently, and found, high up on the northern cliff*, remark- 
able Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions, belonging to the earli- 
est monuments of the antiquities of that country." 



254 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



He found in these rock sculptures the triumphs of Pharaoh 
over the enemies of Egypt, and supposes these ruins to have 
been v^orked at a very early period, v^hen, perhaps, the penin- 
sula was inhabited by the Asiatic, probably Semitic races. 
Among the inscriptions, he found the name of Cheops, who 
built the great pyramid. I will not attempt to give his dates, 
by which he concludes the mines were worked long before the 
days of Abraham, for subseq[uent discoveries in reading the 
hieroglyphics have strangely upset his theories and his dates. 
We have quoted the above to show the remains of antiquity 
that are found in this remarkable valley, and the intercourse 
that must, at some previous time, have existed between these 
mountain regions and Egypt. 

Passing this valley, we soon emerged into Wady Mukatteb, 

"THE WRITTEN VALLEY." 

This valley has several peculiarities. Lofty granite peaks 
rise up around you ; but these frowning bights of granite rest 
on softer strata of freestone and sandstone. The action of the 
elements, constantly at work during the lapse of ages, has crum- 
bled away the foundations, and the over-hanging masses have 
given away and tumbled into the valley below. In some places 
these huge bowlders are of enormous size. In many instances, 
as they have been torn away from their native resting places, 
the clefts have been so regular and precipitous that you ride 
along the side of smooth perpendicular walls rising far above 
your head, while at some distance back of them the tall, giant 
cliffs lift their huge forms. These sandstone tablets are in- 
vested with a deep interest, for here for the first time we found 
ourselves gazing upon those mysterious characters that have so 
long excited the wonder of the traveler. 



INSCKIPTIONS UPON THE ROCKS. 



255 



CHAPTER XII. 

SiNAiTic Inscriptions — Features of the Country — Manna — 
Hyssop and other Plants — Approach to Sinai. 

We are now in the Written Yalley — in the midst of those 
strange and mysterious inscriptions that have been the puzzle 
and the wonder of the ignorant and the learned. Among the 
first of these inscriptions I met, I copied, as accurately as I could 
with a pencil, two or three lines of the letters and a few of the 
strange looking sketches. A view of these is here given, and 
they may be relied upon as correct : 




Specimens of the Inscriptions from the Sinaitic Rocks. Copied March, 1861. The lette'-s, as 
found upon the rocks, are from five to eight inches long. The sketches of animals vary very 
much in size, some much more rude than others. 



256 



EGYPT AND Slis^AI. 



The interest these inscriptions have excited, the numerous 
conjectures and learned disquisitions to which they have given 
rise, and the mystery in which they are still shrouded, led me 
to look upon them with great earnestness and attention. 
Scholars of different nations have examined them, and they 
have given rise to various conflicting opinions. The curiosity 
excited in my own mind in being permitted to examine them, 
has led me to look through several authors, and collate their 
different views and opinions, the result of which, in connection 
with my own observations, may be of interest to the reader. 
The questions that ^rise are : When were these inscriptions 
made? By whom were they made? and for what purpose? 

First, let us clear the subject of all exaggerations and over- 
drawn statements. It cannot be denied that there is a disposi- 
tion on the part of many journalizers to use figures of speech, 
and indulge in flights of fancy, in describing the most common 
incidents and the most stubborn matters of fact. Tall thino-s 

o 

become cloud-capped : large things, enormous; and many, an in- 
numerable multitude. This will do in some instances, but 
when we want the plain facts, we are often under the necessity 
of stripping away many superfluities. 

These inscriptions are far from being as numerous as I had 
expected to find them. From some accounts I had read, I sup- 
posed I should find whole mountain sides, for miles, covered 
with them like the pages of a book. In this valley it is al- 
lowed they are more numerous than in any other place. Stan- 
ley's observation completely coincides with my own. "-The 
"Wady Mukatteb is a large open valley, almost a plain, with no 
continuous wall or rock on either side, but masses of rock re- 
ceding and advancing. It is chiefly on these advancing masses 
that the inscriptions straggle, not by thousands, but at most by 
hundreds or fifties. They are much less numerous than the 
names of western travelers on the monuments in the valley of 
the Mle, since the beginning of this century." 

THE AMOUNT OF WORK EXPENDED ON THEM. 

Some writers have described them as occupying every con- 
ceivable situation — on the loose fragments that strew the valley, 



THE SINAITIC INSCRIPTIONS. 257 

as well as on the rocks of the sides, and on lofty cliffs utterly in- 
accessible except by ladders and rojpes; and Burckhardt says he 
saw many on the granite peak of Serbal. The loftiest ones I 
saw were two or three feet higher than ray head as I sat on my 
camel, or about as high as a man could reach standing upon a 
camel's back. There may, of course, be higher ones, but they 
cannot be many. I did not ascend Mount Serbal, but Stanley 
says, that though he searched for them he only found three on 
the top of that mountain ; and that none that he saw, unless it 
might be a very doubtful one at Petra, required ladders or ma- 
chinery of any kind. "I think," he says, ''there are none that 
could not have been written by one man climbing upon anoth- 
er's shoulders." And then we very well know, in some places in 
our own country, where travelers have inscribed their names, 
there has often been a sort of strife to overreach each other. 
And who knows but some one here, like the ambitious youth 
at the !N"atural Bridge, may have imperiled his life in his ambi- 
tion to overreach the rest? Certain it is^ that some of the 
highest names in this valley are Greek, probably placed there 
by Greek pilgrims long subsequent to those we are contem- 
plating. 

Again, the labor of cutting them has been represented as 
enormous. A recent writer in an English Review, in alluding 
to this, says : " They must have been done by a people possess- 
ing implements of various kinds, implements which no pil- 
grims ever think of carrying with them. They must have had 
graving tools of strength, and in considerable numbers. The 
difficulty of working on the face of the rocks under a scorching 
sun, is so great that it could only be overcome by men who, 
living in the desert, could avail themselves of all opportunities, 
and take things leisurely, or else who were shadowed from the 
heat in some mysterious way. What must have been the toil 
of executing them, when we consider not only their amazing 
numbers, but that many of them are cut in the hard granite?" 

The writer of this quotation had probably never been upon 
the ground, but gathered his knowledge from some bombastic 
writer. I saw none of these inscriptions that appeared to have 
been cut with an engraver's tool, or on which any great amount 



258 



EGYPT AlN^D SI^TAI. 



of labor had been bestowed. They are simply scratched upon 
the surface of the rock, as if with some hard, sharp instrument, 
the indentations being very slight. I did not try my own hand 
at the work; but here, again, Stanley tells us that one of his 
company scooped out a horse in ten minutes, more complete 
than any sculptured animal he saw. Those upon the granite 
are lightly scratched; those upon the sandstone are deeper, yet 
still but slightly indented. But it may be asked: ''If they 
are so slightly imprinted, why have they not long since been 
defaced, or completely worn away ? " This is owing to the na- 
ture of the climate — a dry atmosphere, and few winds and 
storms. Some more modern inscriptions, known by their date 
to be from three hundred to four hundred years old, are now 
apparently as fresh as when cut. 

WHERE FOUND AND THEIR PECULIARITIES. 

They are mostly found in those thoroughfares that lead from 
Egypt to Mount Sinai — fewer of them on the route from 
Mount Sinai to Jerusalem by way of Petra. They extend in 
different places quite to Mount Sinai. They are found in the 
lower road between Mount Serbal and Sinai, and many of them 
can be seen in the ravine leading to Mount St. Catharine. In- 
deed, the}^ seem to be widely scattered over a large portion of 
the peninsula, but more in this valley than in any other place. 
East of Sinai it is said none have been found. They seem to 
be most numerous in those places where travelers would natur- 
ally stop for rest and refreshment. The most that occur on 
the northern route from Sinai are said to be in Wady Araba, 
the supposed route of the children of Israel. 

Their characters are generally much the same, indicating that 
they were executed by the same class of people. Most of them 
appear to be of the same language. The inscriptions are gen- 
erally short, as if they contained only a name. Those I have 
copied are about as long as any I saw. The letters are unlike 
those of any known language. They are now intermingled 
with crosses, sometimes f, and sometimes + ; but these, as the 
position of some of them indicates, may have been subsequent- 
ly added. Some Greek inscriptions are intermingled with 



THE SINAITIG INSCKIPTIONS. 



259 



tliem, but evidently subsequently formed, as they are, in some 
instances, traced directly over the others. The size of the 
letters vary much. Those from which I copied were from five 
to eight inches long. Some, it is said, have been found where 
the letters were from five to six feet long, and the figures of 
enormous size, requiring in their formation much labor. 

The drawings of animals that accompany them, are certain- 
ly as inexplicable as the letters themselves. There are dogs, 
horses, camels, bugs, and other representations of various kinds. 
They are generally so rudely drawn, as may be seen by refer- 
ence to our copies, as to convey the impression that they must 
have been done by boys, in jocund sport. Most of them are 
mere caricatures. The ibex frequently occurs, with most ludi- 
crous length of horns. So fantastic and comical are many of 
these figures, as to lead to the conclusion that no very serious 
intentions were entertained b}^ those who drew them. Others, 
again, appear to be better formed and of a graver character. 

ATTENTION BESTOWED UPON THESE INSCRIPTIONS. 

The first one from whom we have any record of them, was 
Cosmas, an Alexandrian merchant, and who, from a voyage he 
made to India, was called Indicopleustes. As early as A. D. 
535, he traversed on foot the Sinaitic peninsula. He makes 
particular mention of these inscriptions, and tells us that some 
Jews who were with him informed him that they were made 
by their ancestors when on their way with Moses through the 
desert. From this time on, for a long series of years, we hear 
no more of them. From the sixth to the sixteenth century 
no one mentions them. 

About the middle of the sixteenth century, a Paris physician, 
by the name of Peter Belon, visited Arabia. He published an 
account of his travels in 1554, in French, in which he speaks 
of these inscriptions. In 1632, Athanasius Kircher, a German 
antiquary, published a work at Rome, in which he makes spe- 
cial mention of these desert tablets. In 1665, Balthaser Mon- 
conys, another French traveler, published some remarks on 
these writings. 

^^early another hundred years passed away, when the Pre- 



260 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



fetto of the Franciscans at Cairo made a journey to Sinai, in 
company of some missionaries of the Propaganda. He gives an 
account of his visit to this " Written Yalley," and gives some 
description of the writings, but could give no interpretation of 
them. He says there were with him persons of the Arabic, 
Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Coptic, Latin, Armenian, Turkish, En- 
glish, Illyrican, German and Bohemian languages, yet none ot 
them had any knovv^edge of these characters. He thinks they 
were engraven by the Chaldeans, or some other persons, long 
before the coming of Christ. 

Then came Pocoke's visit in 1737. He says but little of the 
inscriptions, but gives his readers two large plates of specimens 
which he copied. I^ot long after this, Charles Thompson vis- 
ited the place, and speaks of the inscriptions as being void of 
beauty and unintelligible, not worth the pains of copying. 

Robert Clayton, Bishop of Cloger, in 1753, translated into 
English and published the Journal of the Franciscan of Cairo 
before mentioned. This work served to arouse more attention 
to the subject than had ever before been manifested. The 
Bishop was full of enthusiasm upon the subject, and in his zeal 
and liberality, made an offer of five hundred pounds sterling to 
any one who would visit the desert and bring back copies of 
the inscriptions. He thinks the characters an ancient form of 
Hebrew, left there by the Israelites at the time of giving the 
law. Others have entertained this theory. When I was in Je- 
rusalem, I showed my copies of these inscriptions to old Dr. 
Levishon, who has bestowed much attention upon the ancient 
Hebrew. He believes some very ancient copies of the Samari- 
tan Pentateuch, of which I shall speak in my visit to Jerusa- 
lem, found among the Samaritans, to be written in the same 
character used by Moses; but in comparing the two, he could 
trace no resemblance to warrant an opinion they ever belonged 
to the same language. But this would not prove the Hebrews 
did not write them ; they might have written in some other dia- 
lect, brought with them from Egypt. 

Soon after this, in 1776, an article appeared in the Philo- 
sophical Transactions," from Edward Wortly Montague, giving 
an account of his journey from Cairo to the "Written Mouu- 



THE SINAITIC INSCKIPTIONS. 



261 



tains." Finding Greek characters among the writings, he as- 
cribes the whole to Greek pilgrims from Constantinople or the 
Morea. 

The King of Denmark became interested in these matters, 
and in 1761, sent Mebiihr on a tour of exploration to Egypt 
and Arabia. He examined the inscriptions, but did not seem 
to attach much importance to them. He thought they must 
have been executed by travelers during their resting or idle 
hours. He states, however, that these inscriptions had been 
mentioned by a Greek author as early as the third century. 

Yolney visited the Written Yalley and published his travels 
in 1784. He treats the inscriptions with great lightness, and 
ridicules the clumsy attempts made to imitate figures of animals. 

After this, travel greatly increased. Many looked upon these 
strange tablets with amazement, only to be perplexed wdth the 
mystery that enshrouded them. But wdiile none could read, 
many sat about the work of copying them; conspicuous among 
whom was Mr. Gray, who' not only copied but published one 
hundred and eighty-seven of these inscriptions. With these 
allusions to the attention they have attracted, we must still come 
back to the question of 

THEIR OHIGIN. 

By whom were these drawings made? When? For what 
purpose? These are the perplexing questions that the inquisi- 
tive have long been trying to settle. That they are very an- 
cient, is certain from the fact that all knowledge of the alphabet 
and language in which they w^ere written has been lost. What 
people have found a home in this desert? When Moses left 
Egypt and took up his abode here, he found a settled people 
sojourning in this portion of the land. When he undertook to 
lead Israel through, the Amalekites opposed their progress, and 
from the battle that was fought, they appear to have been a 
numerous and pow^erful people. Did they make them ? Had 
they been made by any class of persons permanently dwelling 
in the land, they w^ould have been likely to have abounded in 
other localities in as great numbers as where they are now 
found. We have seen that they occur on those routes where 



262 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



transient persons or mere travelers through the land were most 
likelj to make their halts. Did the Israelites make them? 

Who were the inhabitants of the country for the long period 
that elapsed between the Exodus and the Christian era? "We 
know that the Egyptians came here and worked these mines, 
but the inscriptions are in a language of which no traces have 
ever been found in Egypt. Eour or five hundred years after 
the Christian era, when monasticism began to rage like an epi- 
demic, and monks and anchorites crowded to Mount Sinai, this 
desert was full of pilgrims. Did they leave these memorials on 
these rocks? Alexandrian, African, Syrian, Byzantine, and 
A^arious other classes came here; but the alphabet of these 
strange characters cannot be traced to any of these known lan- 
guages. Indeed, Cosmas, an Alexandrian merchant, who first 
brought these curious inscriptions to the knowledge of the 
learned world, was here, it is said, in A. D. 535, and then all 
knowledge of the character in which thej* were written ap- 
pears to have been lost. He attributes them to the ancient He- 
brews. He says certain Jews who had read them, explained 
them to him. They indicated, he said, "the journey of such a 
one, of such a tribe, in such a year, etc." To this we have be- 
fore alluded. 

As late as 1839, Professor Beer, of the University of Leipzig, 
professed to have made out the alphabet in which they are 
written. His readings of them appear to have been satisfacto- 
ry to many eminent scholars. He makes them to consist mere- 
ly of proper names, preceded by a word — peace, blessed, or some- 
thing similar. 'No dates have been found. He considers them 
remains of the language and character once in use among the 
]!^abatheans of Arabia Petra. He supposes a great part of them 
were written by Christian pilgrims about the fourth century. 
Professor Beer has certainly made out a very plausible theory, 
and yet it is open to several serious objections. These objec- 
tions I find stated in a note to Doctor Robinson's allusions to 
them. 

''These Christian pilgrims, who were they? and whence did 
they come? The fact that all the inscriptions are found only 
on the great routes from Egypt, would seem to imply that they 



THE SINAITIC INSCKIPTIONS. 263 

came from that country, or at least from the western side of the 
gulf of Suez. But if so, how comes it that not a trace of this 
alphabet or language is found in Egypt and its vicinity ? Egypt, 
too, we know, was full of Jews and Christians in the early cen- 
turies ; how comes it, then, that no Jewish or Christian names 
are found among the inscriptions? It is true, that the heathen 
proper names continued to be used long after the introduction 
of Christianity, as we see from the early fathers and bishops. 
But this will not account for the entire absence of Christian 
and Jewish names among such hosts of pilgrims coming from 
Egypt. 

" On the other hand, were these pilgrims E"abatheans, Ishma- 
elites, Saracens, the native inhabitants of the peninsula, and of 
Arabia Petra in general? The heathen names and the lan- 
guage and writing would lead to this conclusion. But then 
how comes it that all the inscriptions are on the western side 
of the peninsula, and not one upon the eastern ? Besides, there 
is no historical evidence that any native Christian population 
existed in and around the peninsula in the early centuries, but 
rather the contrary. The Christian exiles from Egypt, and the 
hermits of these mountains, lived in constant exposure to slave- 
ry, or death from the heathen around them." 

It appears further, that after the above objections were writ- 
ten, and after the death of Professor Beer, investigations were 
continued. A paper on the subject was published in Germany, 
from the pen of Professor Tuch. He indorses Beer's explana- 
tion of the alphabet, and comes to the conclusion that the in- 
scriptions are neither Aramsean nor I^abathean, as held by 
Beer, but Arabic ; that they were made by the ancient Tawara 
Arabs, who inhabited the peninsula before the rise of Moham- 
medanism ; and further, that they were made in the performance 
of pilgrimages to some holy shrines in the desert now unknown. 
But I confess the conclusions of both Beer and Tuch are far 
from being satisfactory, and the question again returns, "When? 
and by whom ? 

DID THE JEWS INSCRIBE THEM? 

A recent writer in the London Quarterly Journal of Prophe- 



264 



EGYPT AND SIKAI. 



cy gives us an elaborate article on the subject. Unsatisfied 
with Beer's theory, he inclines to support that of Mr. Forster, 
who also claims to have discovered a key to the strange and 
perplexing characters. He supports the original opinion of 
Cosmas, that they were written by the Jews at the time of the 
Exodus, and that the characters are of an ancient form, used by 
some of the dialects of Egypt. He finds confirmation of this in 
some of the figurative representations. In one place, the figure 
of a man, holding up both hands in the attitude of prayer. This 
he interprets to be Moses praying for the success of Israel against 
Amalek. In another, the figure of a serpent springing upon a 
man — an allusion, he thinks, to the fiery serpent; and so of 
others. The inscriptions under, he says, correspond to this in- 
terpretation. This writer also speaks of more important in- 
scriptions, recently found, than any that have yet been men- 
tioned — a hieroglyphic character a hundred feet high, the 
title six feet in hight, consisting of but one line; under this, 
forty-one successive lines, evidently forming an entire piece of 
composition. This is conjectured to be the song of Moses. 

Thus I have given the reader all the facts within my reach 
bearing upon this perplexing subject. It will be seen that it is 
still an open question, far from being settled. According to the 
writer last quoted, it is constanly assuming more and more im- 
portance. He thinks that in this last theory more of the dis- 
cordances seem to unite and harmonize than in any other. "If 
these inscriptions," he says, "are Israel's own records of the 
Lord's dealings with them, how much light may yet be cast 
upon scripture ! The rocks of Sinai may yet prove reflectors 
of a wondrous light upon many things that have hitherto been 
accounted dark and puzzling. The field of antiquities thus 
opened to us promise to be one of profoundest interest — far be- 
yond that attaching to either Mneveh or Babylon." If these 
inscriptions are indeed Israel's own records of the Lord's deal- 
ings with them, then what can the unbeliever say ? They are 
not taken from scripture ; they were written prior to the penta- 
teuch. The very stones may cry out against him, and say : 
"The God of Israel is he who alone doeth wonders; Jehovah is 
his name." It would, indeed, be strange if these mountain 



A CHEEKLESS CEMETEEY. 



265 



tablets should yet prove to be a portion of the Handwriting 
of God, by which the Mosaic record is to be confirmed. That 
the art of writing on stone at that period was known, is a well 
attested fact, for the children of Israel received the tables of 
the law written in that manner. But how we are lingering 
among these records of lost languages and extinct tribes. Well, 
we are not the only travelers that have tarried to gaze, think 
and wonder. 

A BURYING-GROUND. 

Having finished our work of copying a few of the strange in- 
scriptions, we continued our ride along the valley. At 10 o'clock 
we passed a Bedawin burying-ground, on a little eminence in 
the wild, rock-strown valley. There were a large number of 
groves, each one rudel}^ marked by a pile of loose stones at the 
head and foot — no inclosure, no turf-covered mound, no cypress 
shade. As I looked upon the frowning precipice of rocks that 
hung over it from above, upon the sterile and desolate ground 
beneath, it seemed like a sad and bitter thing to die and be 
buried thus in such a cheerless spot. Almost involuntarily I 
found myself exclaiming: "Lord, protect me, and let me re- 
turn and be buried among my kindred, where the grass grows 
and the flowers bloom, and the willow spreads its inviting 
shade." 

Of the wildness of the country through which we were now 
passing, one can form no conception from any written descrip- 
tion. Shut in by lofty hills; winding our way among huge 
fragments of rocks that had been torn from their native beds; 
occasionally catching a view of the tall, gray summit of Serbal; 
the profound solitude, the nude hills, and the utter desolation 
that every where met the eye, inspired a sort of trembling nerv- 
ousness almost amounting to fear ; while the sublimity of the 
scene was grand and impressive beyond the power of expres- 
sion. 

At 11 o'clock we passed a flock of goats, some thirty or 
more — all of them black — with two young camels. A sm^all 
Bedawin boy, apparently about twelve years of age, had charge 
of them. He was half-naked, and the little clothing he had 



266 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



was all in rags, so tattered lie could scarcely keep tliem about 
him. How the flock lived here was a mystery, for scarce a 
green thing could he seen. At 12 o'clock we stopped to lunch 
under a dwarf acacia, whose thin, sickly-looking leaves afforded 
us but a slight protection from the now oppressive rays of the 
noontide sun. It was all the shelter we could find. Passing 
on at half-past 1 o'clock, we entered 

WADY FEIRAN. 

These wadies, to use the language of another, " are exactly 
like the beds and valleys of our rivers in mountainous regions, 
only that there is no water," and in most of them very little, 
if any, vegetation. In the winter season the water evidently 
rushes through them in sweeping torrents; as collected and 
poured down from the mountain sides, it is driven onward to 
the sea. But these currents of water are transient, and suc- 
ceeded by a drouth that withers almost every green thing. In 
these dry seasons every appearance of water deceives you. 
You look for it, long for it, but find it not. 

This Wady Feiran forms an exception to the general rule. 
It is really an oasis in the desert — a green spot in this barren 
sanctuary of hills. But it is not all the valley that is thus fer- 
tile. After entering it, we passed on some two hours over the 
level bed of the valley, which here spreads out into a barren, 
sandy plain, from four hundred to five hundred yards wide. 
At half-past four o'clock we passed a Bedawin encampment — 
some twenty to thirty low, black tents, several children, some 
goats, and three or four camels wandering about near them. 
'NesiY this we saw two sand-colored swallows or martins, and 
directly after two small blackbirds, marked with white. It 
seemed pleasant in this desert region to see any thing that had 
life. Soon afterwards we met a Bedawin on horseback, carry- 
ing a good-sized lamb in his arms. It seemed that, hearing of 
our approach, he had come out to meet us, to see if he could 
not find a market for his animal. His price was one dollar, 
but for some reason our dragoman did not succeed in making a 
bargain with him. 'Now the valley began again to narrow upon 
us. The tall cliffs rose up on each side, curiously striped with 



OASIS IN THE DESEKT. 



269 



various colors of porphyry, intermixed with the primitive 
granite rock, Mght again overtook ns, and again we pitched 
our tents before reaching the green portion of the valley, of 
which we had so often heard, and for which we had so anxious- 
ly looked. Upon lighting our candles, a few winged insects 
came buzzing around, the first we had seen since entering the 
desert, and a bat also came flying around our tents. Sure we 
must be approaching some place where animal life can find 
subsistence. To-morrow we are promised a view of the ver- 
dure of Feiran, and a draft from its refreshing waters. 

SIXTH DAY FROM SUEZ. 

March 2d. We were called this morning at half-past four 
o'clock; our dragoman wishing to make a long ride to-day. 
By the time the sun cast his first morning rays on the lofty 
peak of old Serbal, in sight of which we had encamped, we 
had breakfasted, and were once more on our way. We walked 
on for an hour or more ahead of our camels; sometimes gazing 
with awe and astonishment upon the deep ravines and huge 
clefts that opened here and there among the mountains, some- 
times wondering at the enormous bowlders that had been pre- 
cipitated into the valley below. I^othing could be more sug- 
gestive of banditti and Bedawin robbers than these wild, deep 
glens, and, in spite of all assurances of security, the imagina- 
tion would sometimes picture the long gun and half-concealed 
form of some daring robber skulking behind the rocks. 

Between 8 and 9 o'clock, an abrupt turn in the valley brought 
us directly in front of Serbal, one of the boldest and grandest 
of the Sinaitic mountains. Though still a number of miles dis- 
tant, it seemed to rise up before us directly from the plain, lift- 
ing its bold, granite peak in solemn majesty and grandeur far 
into the heavens. Xear here we passed, upon the side of the 
mountain, to the left, the ruins of an ancient village. It is es- 
timated to have contained about one hundred houses, which 
had been built of stone, some of the walls still standing, ^^ear 
it, in the valley, are a few palm trees and other indications of 
vegetation. 

About 9 o'clock we reached the much talked of oasis — the 
16 

i 



270 



EGYPT AIS D SINAI. 



garden in tlie desert— a fertile spot in this sanctuary of moun- 
tain peaks. Here a grove of the date palm cheered the eye, 
and several other kinds of fruit trees, now clothed in the beau- 
ty and blossoms of spring, lent a sweet fragrance to the desert 
air. The cheerful song of a few birds fell upon the ear, and a 
few cultivated patches of ground promised a reward for the la- 
borer's toil. Here, too, was water — sweet water — a running 
stream of water — water that we could drink. It was the first 
water we had found in all our weary journey from Cairo, that 
we thought deserved the name. Our camels rushed towards it 
and drinked with an eagerness that would have exhausted the 
stream had there not been a bountiful supply. We refreshed 
ourselves, bathed our hands and faces, and lingered around the 
stream. This was 

THE OASIS OF TEIRAN. 

This Feiran is called " The Paradise of the Bedawin." It is, 
indeed, beautiful and fertile, when seen in contrast with the 
barren wastes of sands and the bleak, naked hills and moun- 
tains that encircle it for miles on every side. But it is this 
contrast, rather than the real merits of the place, that has ani- 
mated the pen of those tourists whose descriptions have invested 
it with such attractive beauties and excellencies. It is not 
probably now what it has been in former j^ears, for beauty and 
excellence no where spring up, or are perpetuated in the track 
of the Bedawin. All that is bright and beautiful seems to per- 
ish beneath the touch of his hand. 

Some have endeavored to identify this with the Rephidim 
of the Exodus, where Moses smote the rock, and Amalek fought 
against Israel. And some have attempted to prove that yon- 
der towering hight of Serbal, that looks down from his sublime 
canopy of clouds upon this enchanting valley of the desert, is 
the real Sinai of the law, and the scene of that astounding ex- 
hibition of the Divine majesty and glory. But the arguments 
by which this is sustained are far from being satisfactory. And 
yet this, next to Sinai, is certainly one of the most interesting 
spots in all the peninsula. Here is the beauty of the valley in 
contrast with the sublimity of the mountain peaks ; and what 



EAKLY CHEISTIAN SETTLEMENTS. 271 



peaks they are! All of granite, rising so precipitously and 
column-like as to appear inaccessible to man, while large 
masses of snow glistened in the sunlight upon their tops. 
Around me was the beauty, melody and fertility of spring. 
From these I had but to lift my eyes, and there, amid majesty 
and grandeur, were the frosts and snows of winter. 

But though not the theatre of those amazing events that 
overawed the people, when God in his majesty touched the 
mount, here, it is certain, the tribes of Israel came. Through 
this valley the numerous columns marched in solemn proces- 
sion toward the Mount of God. From these waters they drank ; 
from this ground they gathered the bread of heaven ; and these 
tall mountain sides and deep gorges were illuminated by the 
mysterious cloud. 

CHRISTIANS IN W A D Y FEIRAN. 

The fertility of this valley, and the sacred associations that 
may have been connected with its mountain scenery, early drew 
large numbers of Christian pilgrims to the place. Here are 
still seen large masses of the ruined city of Faran, or, as it is 
sometimes called, Paran. Soon after the spread of Christiani- 
ty, and as early as the beginning of the fourth century, large 
numbers of Christians, some driven by persecution, and some 
urged by the love and supposed merits of a secluded and mo- 
nastic life, were drawn to these lonely solitudes of the desert. 
There was quite a Christian population, and a regularly organ- 
ized ecclesiastical community in this valley as early as A. D. 
400. Many convents subsequently sprung up in difierent por- 
tions of the desert. Monasticism became a spiritual epidemic; 
solitude, abstinence, bodily penance and privations were re- 
sorted to, as the holy cross upon which to crucify the flesh, and 
the talismanic charm to exorcise the devil. Then it was, as one 
truly says, that the wildest glens of these gloomy regions 
swarmed with anchorites; every comfortless spot was religious- 
ly searched out; every wretched cave and gloomy grot was con- 
stituted the living tomb of some saintly hermit. All along 
these wild glens and rocky mountain sides can still be seen the 
remains of these miserable abodes, Avhere some human beins: 



272 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



spent his life in self-inflicted torture, fasting and prayer. We 
climbed up the hill-sides and entered two or three of them — 
wretched, cheerless abodes they must have been. As we looked 
upon the gloomy apartment, and pictured, to ourselves the lean 
and famished victim of a superstitious delusion, dying from ex- 
posure and starvation, we wondered how, amid all the glorious 
light, and cheerful hopes, and delightful pleasures of an active 
Christian obedience, any one could ever have thought it neces- 
sary, or acceptable to God, to stultify their manhood, obliterate 
their being, and turn earth into hell, in hopes of gaining heaven. 
Such was the rage for this kind of life in the earlier ages of 
Christianity, it is said that at one time there were more than 
six thousand hermits living in these mountain glens and desert 
retreats. But this episcopal city of Paran long since became a 
heap of ruins. Convent after convent has perished, and but 
one in all the desert, as we shall see hereafter, now remains. 

COLOR AND FORM OF THE MOUNTAINS. 

Again, like a loitering school-boy, we are lingering by the 
way. There are so many things of interest in this strange land, 
we are making but slow progress. We must leave these mur- 
muring waters, delightful shades and pleasant groves of palm. 
Farewell, Feiran ! Adieu, ye sublime and mysterious peaks of 
Serbal ! A short ride, and vegetation will again cease, and no 
sign of rural life will greet us. A few miserable families make 
their home in this valley, but it is said they are not of the gen- 
uine Bedawin race. They have converted some portions of the 
old, dilapidated ruins of the former stone houses into a sort of 
dwelling places, by covering them with brush and reeds ; but 
they are in a condition of the most abject poverty. Here I saw 
the first female I have seen since entering the desert. The 
Bedawin proper has no home. He camps in Feiran as long as 
the trees yield him any revenues of fiaiits, or there is any veg- 
etation for his flocks, and then moves, and again pitches his tent 
wherever he can find a little herbage for his goats. Here I saw 
the first spires of grass I have seen since leaving the green val- 
ley of the Wile. Of this, however, there was a very scanty 



SUBLIME SCENEKY. 



273 



growth, seemingly struggling for a bare existence among the 
sands of the valley. 

Passing on, about half-past 10 o'clock we came to the head 
of Wady Feirau, where the road branches in two directions, 
both leading by different routes to Sinai — Wady Sheik to the 
left, Wady Soolah to the right. The former is the longer but 
easier route, and is supposed to be the one taken by the Israel- 
ites. We took Wady Soolah, to the right, the shorter but more 
cliflicult route ; and difficult, indeed, we found it. The appear- 
ance of the mountains was strange indeed. Here was nature 
in her primitive dishabille ; unrobed — divested of those append- 
ages and adornments of subsoil, mold, variegated carpets, and 
overshadowing forests, with Avhich, in more favored lands, she 
contrives to hide her primeval ruggedness. The mountains 
lifted their tall, granite heads in sullen, frowning majesty. But 
in the convulsions of nature by which they were lifted upward 
they had been rent asunder, and boiling streams of various 
colors injected through them with which they were now 
streaked from top to bottom. What a country for a geologist! 
Here he might revel among primitive, secondary and tertiary 
formations — granite, sandstone, porphyry and chalk — now a 
huge elevation of white clay, now a pyramid of yellow sand — 
alluvial deposits, the torrents of past ages have molded into 
shape, but have not entirely swept away — now a range of low, 
black-looking hills, that one says, " seem to be the ruins, the 
cinders of mountains calcined to ashes, like the heaps of a giant 
foundry." All seems to conspire to convince you that ''you are 
traveling in the very focus of creative power," The mountain 
elevations, the precipitous bluffs, the deep, dark glens, the 
black and barren hills, the enormous bowdders of the valleys 
and ravines, all conspire to impress the mind. The scenery 
cannot be called beautiful — it is grand, sublime, awful. 

ACACIA, SHTTTIM WOOD. 

As we passed on, the wildness of the scenery seemed to in- 
crease. At 12 o'clock w^e stopped in the scanty shade of an 
acacia tree, to take our lunch. We spread our blanket upon 
the sand — for it must ever be borne in mind, that nature keeps 



274 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



no carpeted floors in these secluded regions. While we are 
eating, we may take a more scrutinizing look at the tree under 
which we are sitting. It is the wild acacia. The Arabs and 
Egyptians call it ^'sont." It is a thorny tree, very much re- 
sembling our locust. There are different varieties of it. One 
is supposed to be the ''seneh," or "senna," the burning bush of 
Sinai. A different variety of the same tree is supposed to be 
the "sliittah," and which, from its thick and tangled branches, 
receives in scripture the plural form of the name, shittim. This 
variety of tree is found not onl}^ through these desert regions, 
where the valleys afford moisture enough to support vegetation, 
but also abounds in Egypt, and is sometimes found, though 
rarely, in Palestine. It is from a variety of this tree the old 
Arabic frankincense is said to be obtained. 

The inquiry often arose in my own mind : " Could it have 
been from these trees that the noble planks that constituted the 
sides of the tabernacle were formed?" They were, reckoning 
the cubit at eighteen inches — and many reckon it at twenty-one 
— fifteen feet long and twenty-seven inches broad. There are, 
certainly, no trees now in this region from which boards of this 
size could be cut. But as we have said before, no doubt but 
great changes have taken place in these valleys since Israel en- 
camped among them, and from what the trees are now, we can 
form but little idea of what they were then. The whole bibh- 
cal narrative implies a far different state of things in this re- 
gion, from that which now exists. But it is by no means cer- 
tain that this is the tree of the shittim wood. The principal 
reason for supposing it such, is, that it is now the largest tree 
found in the desert. The Septuagint translates the Hebrew 
shittim, ^incorruptible wood,'' but gives us no clue to the variety 
of tree from which it was cut. The wood of some varieties of 
this acacia is hard, fine grained, and capable of a beautiful pol- 
ish. The reader may be curious to know what other trees and 
plants we met with in this desert region worthy of notice. 
Among them we may mention the 

RETEM, OR WILD BROOM. 

This plant gives its name to one of the encampments of the 



PLANTS OF THE DESEET. 



275 



Israelites, I^um. xxiii. 18. Eitbma. This, by many, is identified 
with the Juniper, under which Elijah slept when he fled into 
the wilderness from the cruel persecutions of Jezebel and Ahab. 
From Beersheba he went into the great wilderness where Moses, 
years before, had led the people of God. Faint and weary, 
and wishing he might die, he lay down under one of these de- 
sert shrubs to sleep. Here the angel of the Lord found him, 
awoke him, and gave him the food, upon the strength of which 
he went forty days unto the Mount of God, the mount whither 
we are now wending our steps. 

A singular allusion is made to this plant by the Psalmist : 
"What shall be given unto thee, or what shall be done unto 
thee, thou false tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty with, 
coals of Juniper." He seems to consider the coals of this plant 
as affording the fiercest fire of any combustible matter, and the 
subjugation of the lying tongue to its fierce and devouring fire, 
its most appropriate punishment. Its twigs are long, round 
and tough ; it grows low, thick and scrubby, and bears a white 
blossom. 

There is another plant here worthy of our attention. Fre- 
quently, as you look upon these steep precipices, you will see a 
bright, green plant or vine, taking root in some fissure in the 
rocks, and hanging like a pendant high in the air. In this 
plant it is supposed we have 

THE HYSSOP OP THE BIBLE. 

The Bedawins called it "lasaf" or '^aszef;" among English 
travelers it is known as the " caper plant." That it grew in 
such positions as we here find it is evident from what is said in 
the fourth chapter of 1st Kings, in speaking of Solomon's bo- 
tanical writings: "He spoke of trees from the cedar tree that 
is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the 
wall." In reference to some allusions to the use of this plant 
in the E'ew Testament, it is said there were two kinds of it; 
the wild or mountain hyssop, and the cultivated, growing in 
open fields or gardens, having a strong stalk. The hyssop of 
the Old Testament seems to be a soft, flexible, bushy plant, of 



276 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



which a sort of broom could be made for sprinkling blood or 
water. 

From this plant probably came the green branches used in 
the religious ceremonies of the Hebrews. It grows in this de- 
sert on the most barren soil and rocky precipices. It has always 
been supposed to possess medicinal virtues and cleansing pro- 
perties. It was first used by the Israelites on that fearful night 
before their departure out of Egypt, to sprinkle the blood of the 
paschal lamb upon their door-posts, which was to be the token 
of their safety when the destroying angel went through the 
land. It ever afterwards continued to be used in all their reli- 
gious ceremonies in sprinkling the cleansing waters and the 
sacrificial blood, which were made types of purification. Some 
of my readers would like to know what I learned of 

THE MANNA PLANT. 

I saw it frequently, and brought home a cane I cut from one 
of the bushes. ''And was the manna upon which the children 
of Israel so long fed, really the product of that plant?" I ap- 
prehend their manna was a very different thing, and produced 
from a very difierent source. The plant that produces the 
manna of commerce, is called by the Arabs "turfa;" Frank 
travelers call it tamarisk. It is a thick, bushy tree, the tallest 
ones I saw not over fifteen or twenty feet high. It has n.o 
thorns, and has a long, narrow, bright, green leaf. The leaves 
are so slim, and thickly set, one calls it the feathery tamarisk. 
How large it would grow under favorable circumstances, can 
scarcely be inferred from the stunted growth of these valleys, 
where the requisites of soil and water are poorly supplied. 

Doctor Robinson, who gathered a more particular account 
of this product of the desert from the monks of the convent at 
Sinai than I was able to do, tell us the manna is found in the 
form of shining drops on the twigs and branches, not on the 
leaves of this turfa. It exudes in consequence of the puncture 
of an insect. It has the appearance of gum, is of a sweetish 
taste, and melts when exposed to the sun or fire. What falls 
upon the sand is not gathered." We are also informed that it 
is not produced every year. After a supjDly of one year has 



THE MANNA. 



279 



been gathered, five or six years sometimes elapse before any 
considerable quantity of it again appears. Of late years but 
little of it has been produced, occasioned, probably, by the 
diminution of the plant from which it distills. The Arabs 
gather it and bring it into the convent at Sinai, where pots of 
it can sometimes be bought from the monks. An inferior and 
adulterated form of it can be also found in our apothecary 
shops. 

Such is the manna of the desert, and of the present day. 
How different from that bread with which God fed his people 
in this same wilderness ! I know that some have affected to 
believe, and attempted to prove, that this gum of the turfa 
must have been Israel's food. They tell us Moses was intimate- 
ly acquainted with the whole country, and thus was enabled to 
guide the Israelites by the routes best supplied with these 
manna trees. But what intelligent person can for a moment 
entertain this s-upposition? This production of the Arabian 
desert is called by the same name, but aside from this it has 
scarce a single property in its nature, or a single circumstance 
in its production, in common with the manna of the Exodus. 
Of the manna of the Bible, not one word is said about its being 
the product of a tree or bush. When the dew fell upon the camp 
in the night the manna fell upon it. "When the dew that lay 
was gone up, behold, upon the face of the desert a small round 
thing, small as the hoar-frost upon the ground; and it was like 
coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers with 
honey." Ex. xvi. 14. 

The product of the turfa is rather a drug or medicine than 
an article of diet, and is used only for medical purposes. It 
falls on the ground only by accident or from neglect, and when 
it has so fallen it is unfit to be gathered. It is only during a 
few weeks of the year that it exudes from the punctured limbs 
or twigs ; and as for quantity, as at present produced, the supply 
is very meagre, and were it fit for food, and the whole penin- 
sula a thicket of turfa trees, the quantity produced would be 
far from sufficient to supply two millions or more of people. 

The manna of the Exodus fell upon the ground; it fell all 
the year round, and in such quantities as to yield a bountiful 



280 



EGYPT A^s'D SIIv^AI. 



suppty for all the men, Tvomen and children of the vast 
concourse that were journeying to the Promised Land. It 
seems to have constituted by far the greater portion of their 
sustenance. They gathered it from the earth — ground it in 
mills, or beat it in mortars — baked it in pans, and made it into 
cakes — and its taste was " as the taste of fresh oil." For one, 
I could never look upon this manna of the days of Moses as 
any thing but 

A PERPETUAL MIRACLE. 

A miracle renewed day by day, following the Israelites for 
forty years through all these winding paths, in this great and 
terrible wilderness. It was certainly a strange and marvelous 
kind of food provided for the exigencies of the occasion. It 
had a mysterious and supernatural origin. It had never been 
heard of before, and has never been seen since. The Israelites 
had come to their eighth encampment in the wilderness ; their 
scanty supply of flour and unleavened bread brought from 
Egypt was exhausted; they began to murmur against Moses, 
and against Aaron ; they wished they had stayed and died in 
the land of Egypt, where they sat by the flesh-pots and did eat 
bread to the full. 

But God had his own great purposes to accomplish concern- 
ing them. A night of murmuring and discontent slowly wore 
away. In the morning, when the dew was gone up from the 
face of the wilderness, " there lay upon the ground a small round 
thing." It was strange in its appearance, and pleasant to the 
taste, and scattered with astonishing profusion all about the 
camp. They did not know what it was. The Hebrew, man-hu, 
we are told literally signifies, tohat is itf And they said, 
"man-hu?" What is it? "for they knew not what it was." 
Moses answered, " This is the bread which the Lord hath given 
you to eat." 

There was a mystery about this, and this mystery was per- 
petuated in the very name by which it was then, and has ever 
since been designated. Man-hu? what is it? Who, to this 
day, knows ? only that it was food provided for the people of 
God, in a barren wilderness, by the direct agency of the Al- 



MIEACLE OF THE MANNA. ^oi 

mighty. And this allusion to the mystery of the manna sug- 
gests another thought as to 

ITS SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE. 

We are taught it was the type of Christ Jesus, the living 
spiritual bread, with which God feeds his redeemed and spirit- 
ual people in their passage through the wilderness of this world 
to the true Canaan of everlasting rest. And what do we know 
of Him more than they knew of this strange bread in the wil- 
derness? How strange and wonderful the manner in which he 
made his appearance in the world ! His mother could not 
comprehend it, and pondered the mysterious events in her 
heart. The learned doctors in the temple were filled with sur- 
prise and astonishment. John the Baptist knew him not, only 
as he was revealed by the Holy Spirit. Delegations were sent 
from priests and rulers to inquire, ''Who art thou?" He came 
unto his own, and his own knew him not. Who is he? was 
the universal inquiry. 3Ian-hu1 What is it? was heard from 
every class, and the most they could learn was, "I am the liv- 
ing bread that came down from heaven, which God hath given 
for the life of the world." 

HOME OF OUR SHEIK. 

While we have been looking at these trees and plants, our 
lunch has been finished, and we have been refreshed by an 
hour's rest, and again we must be toiling along our mountain 
pathway. About half-past 3 o'clock we passed the home of our 
sheik. In a valley among the hills, twenty-live or thirty low, 
black tents marked the resting place of his family, and the por- 
tion of his tribe among which he held a sort of patriarchal 
dominion. He invited us to stop and share the hospitality of 
his family and people, offering to entertain us for the night ; 
but it was not consistent with our plans, and we passed on. 
As we rode by the tents, several dirty, ragged children came 
out to gaze at us. One of them, a girl ten or twelve years old, 
the sheik caught in his arms and kissed with apparent tender- 
ness and affection, informing us she was his daughter. I took 



282 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



kindly notice of her, and gave her some dried fruit I had in my 
bag, at which the old sheik seemed highly pleased. 

An hour and a half more and we had overtaken our baggage 
camels. Our tents had been pitched and were ready for our re- 
ception ; our cook was busy at his duties over his smoking fire 
and steaming kettles. An hour or two more and the light of 
our camp-tires had gone out; the curtains of night vailed tent, 
camel and Bedawin, and deep sleep settled down upon us. To- 
morrow we expect to camp at the base of Sinai — the Mount of 
God. 

March Sd. Before the sun had risen high enough to peep in 
among the mountain recesses, Mohammed had given us the 
morning call, for we had before arranged for an early start. 
"We were now in an elevated mountain region. The night had 
been cold. The white frost was around us, reminding us most 
impressively of what is said of the manna — that small round 
thing that lay like the hoar-frost upon the ground. Our course 
was at first along Wady Soolah. It is a barren, rocky valley, 
similar to those we have before described — to the right and left 
tall granite peaks, and all around us hoary rocks and deep and 
dismal caverns. For a time we passed over an uneven, diluvial 
formation — heaps of earth and beds of gravel, while great 
granite bowlders were scattered in every direction. The valley 
now narrowed upon us, and we entered a defile known among 
the Arabs as 

NUBK HAWY, THE WINDY PASS. 

We have before spoken of the rocky stairway by which we 
ascended from the sea into the mountain cluster of Serbal. 
We had now another ascent to make by this difficult pass into 
a second and higher stage of this mountain sanctuary. Our 
pathway was constantly becoming more rugged and difficult. 
The bare granite rocks were streaked with veins of various 
colored porphyry. Sometimes the predominance of iron in 
these rocks gave them a charred and blackened appear- 
ance, as though a forest of vegetation had been burned upon 
them. A wilder, rougher, more desolate looking place can 
scarcely be conceived. You are completely shut in by the great 



A MOUNTAIN PATHWAY. 



283 



cliffs that rise frowning and terrific from ten to fifteen hundred 
feet above you. In some places they seem to hang in jagged 
masses over your head, and you almost tremble lest some top- 
pling fragment should come crashing down from its fearful 
hight, charged with a death-warrant for both rider and beast. 

Our pathway was a bed of rocks. In some places it seemed 
like stairs of stone, laid by the hand of the Omnipotent Crea- 
tor. In some places the hand of art had facilitated the passage, 
by removing some of the topmost blocks, or putting in others, 
where it was necessary to gain a foothold. Our camels toiled 
slowly and laboriously along the ragged ascent. Sometimes 
the passage between the jutting point of rocks was so narrow 
our beasts with their loads could scarcely pass. Often our dri- 
vers had to w^alk by their side to steady their burdens for them. 
One, heavily laden, overcome by fatigue, lay down upon the 
rocky path with piteous cries and groans, and his load had to 
be placed upon others. Fearful of a fall, I dismounted from 
my camel, and clambered over the rocks on foot. 

In the midst of this rugged, gloomy scenery, surrounded by 
bare, bleak rocks, the valley a water-course, where wintry tor- 
rents sweep with awful violence, the thought of human inhab- 
itants would be the last suggestion of the solitary place. But 
lo ! here comes bounding over the rocks, with the agility of a 
fawn, a bare-headed, bare-legged, swarthy Arab boy, apparently 
about ten years old. He approaches without any apparent 
signs of fear, and with the air of a confidence-man, stretches 
out his hand, and once more you hear the everlasting greeting 
of the tribe— backsheesh. Like an apparition he appeared; 
like an apparition we treated him ; and like one, he as quickly 
vanished among the rocks. 

EMERGING FROM THE PASS. 

At last we gained the summit of this outer mountain wall, 
which seems like one of nature's ramparts, guarding the passage 
to the secluded recesses of Sinai. At frequent intervals might 
be seen, sometimes on the precipitous bluff's, and sometimes on 
fallen fragments, some of those strange and unintelligible in- 
scriptions of which we have before spoken. Gradually the val- 



284 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



ley widened, and the rugged aspect of the road wore away. 
Occasionally, an acacia or a clump of tamarisk relieved the ste- 
rility of the scene. On we rode, the valley still w^idening. I 
had again mounted my camel and was riding leisurely along, 
when suddenly I thought I heard the faint, piping voice of 
children, as if close to me. I sent a searching glance about, 
but saw no signs of human habitation. Was I mistaken ? I 
had scarce time for a moment's thought, and again my ear 
caught the faint sound. Looking down, I perceived, close to 
the side of the path, and almost under my camel's feet, three 
little Arab children, sitting close together squat upon the 
ground. Two of them had each a bundle of dirty rags tied 
about the waist ; the third, a repulsive looking little thing, had 
only an old bit of a rug hanging upon the back by a string tied 
round the neck. This constituted the child's entire wardrobe. 
Each had an open hand extended upward in imploring atti- 
tude, and again I heard in the faint treble of children, the word 
that becomes so familiar to every Frank traveler — backsheesh, 
backsheesh ! Poor little wretches — before I could lift a hand 
my camel had strode by them, and what use they could make 
of backsheesh in that lone spot I could scarcely conjecture. 

About 11 o'clock, after two hours' hard climbing in the 
rocky ravine, w^e emerged into Wady Rahah. Soon a sudden 
turn in the road brought us upon the entrance to an open plain, 
across w^hich we could look in a southeasterly direction be- 
tween three and four miles. At the farther end of this, rising 
directly from the plain, towered up a sublime mountain eleva- 
tion — it was the long desired object of our pilgrimage — the Mount 
OF God. 

Our ^ approach to it, encampment, and visit to the convent and 
mountain, will be the theme of our next chapter. 



FIRST VIEW OF SINAI. 



285 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Encampment at Mount Sinai — Visit to the Convent — De- 
scription OF THE Mountain — Its Peculiarities. 

"We are now drawing near the hallowed mount from which 
the law of God was given. Our approach is from the north- 
ward over the Plain of Rahah, which means, Plain of Best, be- 
cause, on this plain the children of Israel are supposed to have 
had their grand encampment during all the time of the giving 
of the laWj and the building of the tabernacle. Our ride over 
this plain, of which we shall speak hereafter, towards the 
mount, occupied about an hour. The bold and frowning front 
of Iloreb was directly before us, rising up from the plain in an 
almost perpendicular wall from two to three thousand feet into 
the air. The sight was grand and majestic beyond description. 
The emotions of my own heart were too deep and powerful for 
utterance. With awe and reverence, I approached the theatre 
of those awful and impressive scenes, that more than three 
thousand years ago tilled with astonishment and affright the 
assembled hosts of Israel. 

As we approached, we were straining our eyes to catch a first 
view of human habitation. Soon the tall, dark forms of a few 
cypress trees arrested our attention, standing like giant senti- 
nels over some memorial spot — now the green foliage of some 
smaller trees — then the wall of the garden, and the fort-like in- 
closure — and now the entire convent of St. Catharine, with all 
its appendages, was full in view, resting in cheerfulness and 
beauty upon the eastern base of Sinai. It was an animating 
sight. Here was an oasis in the desert — an abode of civiliza- 
tion — the Mount of God. Here the end of our journeyings; 
and here, after so many days of weary travel, we were to find 
rest and refreshment. More than all, here we were to visit the 



286 



EGYPT AND Slis^AI. 



place where Moses lived; where he led his flocks; where he 
saw the burning bush; where he received his Divine commis- 
sion to return to the court of Pharaoh and demand the release 
of God's captive people. 

Between 12 and 1 o'clock we pitched our tents close at the 
foot of Ras Safsafah, the Mount Ploreb of the monks, and about 
ten minutes' walk from the convent. A few rods from us, flow- 
ing directly from a crevice in the granite rock of the mountain, 
was a copious stream of pure sweet water. How refreshing, 
after the stale water we had so long drank ! for up to this time, 
aside from the stream in Wady Feiran, we had depended upon 
the supply we had brought from the Mle, and that was now 
nine days old. Our camp matters settled, and dinner dis- 
patched, the first thing in our arrangements was to make 

A VISIT TO THE CONVENT 

We hastily arranged our toilet — and in this we had no great 
preparation to make — and with our letters of introduction we 
stood under the walls of the convent of St. Catharine. These 
we found to be quite formidable, towering some thirty feet 
above our head. Of this convent, and the summit of Sinai 
rising bold and ragged behind it, the accompanying engraving 
presents one of the most accurate views I have seen. The con- 
vent is an irregular quadrangular building, two hundred and 
forty-five feet by two hundred and four feet. It is surrounded 
by thick and lofty walls. These are built mostly of granite, 
but they have been patched here and there with various kinds 
of materials, representing various ages and stages of its his- 
tory. Little towers were built upon the walls, and occasionally, 
looking out from a port-hole, was seen the rusty end of a small, 
antique-looking gun, that, from appearance, might date anterior 
to the crusades. From the bottom of a roofed projection in 
the wall, more than twenty feet above our heads, in answer to 
our call, a trap door was opened upwards; two great ropes, 
with hooks attached to the ends, were let down by a windlass, 
with a request to "send up our letters-" We attached our 
letters from the head convent at Cairo, and they were drawn 
up. After waiting about fifteen or twenty minutes, during 



I 
I 



CONVENT OF ST. CATHAEINE. 289 

which tirae quite a company of Bedawin children and men had 
gathered around us, a door was opened in the wall of the yard, 
and a messenger appeared to escort us in. Until quite recently, 
visitors were drawn up through the trap door. This was when 
the country about was hostile. The friendly terms on which 
the monks now live with the Arabs, allows them to abate much 
of the vigilance and defensive attitude heretofore maintained. 

We were taken into an open inclosure, between the convent 
and the garden, then through an intricate winding passage into 
the convent itself. After ascending two or three pairs of stairs 
to an upper tier of rooms, we were invited into an apartment, 
with large broad divans arranged round the sides in true ori- 
ental style, and invited to a seat. Here an official of the insti- 
tution met us, and gave us a hearty welcome. Our dragoman 
acting as interpreter, we carried on our conversation in Arabic. 
We had been seated but a few minutes when a servant came in, 
with water and arrack. Soon after a large plate of pressed 
dates was brought in, and we were invited to partake. 

We found in the convent about twenty-five monks— -the 
usual number maintained here of late years. I was not very 
favorably impressed either with their intelligence or usefulness. 
Devotion they may have, but most of them appeared like a 
dull, stupid class of men. What else could we expect from the 
circumstances in which they live? — nothing to excite activity or 
arouse the energies of their minds. I find in Kobinson the 
following quotation from one who describes their mode of life 
five hundred years ago : " They follow very strict rules ; live 
chastely and moderately ; are obedient to their archbishop and 
prelates ; drink not wine but on high festivals ; eat never flesh, 
but live on herbs, peas, and lentils, which they prepare with 
water, salt and vinegar ; eat together in a refectory, without a 
table cloth ; perform their offices in the church with great de- 
votion day and night ; and are very diligent in all things ; so 
that they fall little short of the rules of St. Anthony." Their 
rules of life probably continue about the same. They are 
temperate in their habits, and devote much time to religious 
duties. It is said they usually have the ordinary prayers of the 
Greek ritual seven times a day. 
17 



290 



EGYPT AND SlKAl. 



Pilgrimages are still made by religious devotees to the con- 
vent, but the number of late years has greatly declined. In 
the early ages of the Christian church, of which we have 
before spoken, when monasticism and pilgrimages were reckon- 
ed among the most acceptable acts of devotion, large numbers 
Hocked to this desert, and to the holy mount. It is said that in 
1398, besides this convent, there were six others existing in 
different parts of the peninsula, besides a number of chapels 
and hermitages. They have also here a tradition, that at the 
time of the Mohammedan conquest, six to seven thousand 
monks and hermits were scattered among these mountains. 
It is not a hundred years since large caravans of pilgrims 
passed this way. It is said that a document preserved in the 
convent, mentions the arrival in one day of eight hundred 
Armenians from Jerusalem ; and at another time of five hun- 
dred Copts from Cairo. We found in the convent about thirty 
Eussian pilgrims, who had come in from Cairo. They had 
been in the convent about two weeks, and were expecting to 
leave in a day or two. Comparatively few pilgrims now find 
their way to this desert shrine. "We were invited to remain 
and live in the convent during our stay at the mount; but 
for several reasons we preferred remaining in our tents. 
Having two or three hours to spend, we proposed to improve 
it by taking a walk about the convent, and one of the monks 
was deputed to act as our guide. 

THE HISTORY OP THE CONVENT. 

This convent is an ancient one ; so much so that much ob- 
scurity rests upon its early history. That the Mount of God 
and the place of the burning bush should have been early 
selected and placed among the sacred localities, might be ex- 
pected. "We may, therefore, look for the founding of this con- 
vent among the earliest of this class of institutions. It is 
impossible now to tell when Christians first penetrated these 
unfrequented and inhospitable regions. Very soon after the 
crucifixion of the Savior, and when converts began to multi- 
ply, fierce persecutions arose, and believers sought every possible 
refuge to escape impending death. Sinai had undoubtedly been 



CONVENT OF ST. CATHAKINE. 291 

kept alive in the memory of the Jews. It had been a refuge 
for Ehjah, fleeing from the persecutions of treacherous Ahab, 
and the more vindictive Jezebel ; and it might .now again have 
become an asylum of refuge for the followers of the cross. 
Paul, after his conversion, spent several years in retirement. 
He tells us he went into Arabia, and the forcible illustration he 
uses to the Galatians, in which he speaks of Hagar and Mount 
Sinai, has given rise to the idea that he had taken lessons in 
theology among the dells and mountain scenery where Moses 
led his flocks. 

It is well known that these mountain regions swarmed with 
Christian devotees before any convent walls were erected for 
their defense. These solitary exiles were drawn together by 
the necessities of their position, and regular communities were 
organized. In A. D. 373, the monks here were almost exter- 
minated by the Arabs. Common wants and common dangers 
led to the adoption of common means of support and defense, 
and monasteries were one of the natural results. 

Of the founding of this convent, Stanley says : " Iso Arab, 
or Egyptian, or Syrian patriarch erected that massive pile ; no 
pilgrim princess — no ascetic king. A Byzantine emperor, the 
most wordly of his race, the great legislator, Justinian, was its 
founder. The fame of his architectural magnificence, which 
has left its monuments in the most splendid churches of Con- 
stantinople and Eavenna, had penetrated even to the hermits 
of Mount Sinai. And they, when they heard that he delighted 
to build churches and found convents, made a journey to him, 
and complained how the wandering sons of Ishmael were wont 
to attack them suddenly, eat up their provisions^ desolate the 
place, enter the cells and carry off every thing — how they also 
broke into the church and devoured even the holy wafers." 
The particular spot upon which the convent was to be placed, 
had been marked out by another person, 

THE RENOWNED HELENA. 

She was the mother of Constantine, and in the latter part of 
her life a religious devotee of the strictest kind. Her devotion, 
however, assumed an active form. Instead of shutting herself 



292 



EGYPT AND SliN^AI. 



up in monastic seclusion, with, a superstitious zeal, commend- 
able for its energy and activity, but reprehensible, perhaps, from 
its fanaticism and credulity, she devoted herself to the discovery 
of holy sites, and the erection upon them of monuments and 
churches. Soon after A. D. 300, at the advanced age of nearly 
fourscore years, but with the elastic spirit and vigor of youth, 
she made a journey to Palestine, founded the Church of the 
ITativity at Bethlehem, another upon the Mount of Ascension, 
and made at Calvary, as many affect to believe, the discovery 
of the true cross ! In her pilgrimages, Sinai was not forgotten. 
Hither she bent her steps, and near the well of Jethro dis- 
covered the actual spot upon which the burning bush stood ! 
and upon that spot erected a memorial tower. The spot thus 
previously selected and honored, was chosen by Justinian as an 
appropriate place for a Christian refuge and fortress. Around 
this little church or tower of Helena clustered the buildings 
of the convent. The lapse of time has wrought great changes 
in the interior. Once, it is said, there were thirty-six chapels, 
each devoted to the worship of a separate sect. iSTow the 
Greek ritual only is chanted here. 

Thus we see we are within the precincts of an ancient, and, 
to many, a sacred structure, which has long been a Christian 
sanctuary and refuge. The wild sons of Ishmael have hunted 
upon these mountains the devotees of the Savior. The re- 
ception of Mohammedanism by these wandering tribes, did not 
in the least abate their hostility toward the children of the 
cross. Again and again these very walls have been besieged 
by these untamed and merciless devotees of the Prophet, who 
made the crescent under which they fought an apology for the 
most barbarous and bloodthirsty massacres. Thanks to the 
milder reign of justice and religious toleration, for the peace 
and security now enjoyed. The increasing influence of these, 
among both the followers of the crescent and the cross, have 
become a stronger safeguard than towering walls and all the 
dread artillery of war. 

The religious consequence and importance of the convent 
have long since passed away. It is still, however, a great con- 
venience to visitors at Sinai, for the supplies they afford to 



A SANCTUAEY IN THE DESERT. 



295 



travelers, the guides they furnish for mountain excursions, and 
the protection they are able to render in cases of necessity. It 
is truly refreshing to the weary traveler to find such a retreat 
in the midst of such barrenness and desolation. After so many 
long days of weary travel, scarcely meeting a human being, 
and then no one that can speak your language, or sympathize 
with you in your devotions, you are prepared, from the con- 
trast, to receive a deeper and more favorable impression in your 
visit to this lone sanctuary of the mountains. You look with 
delight upon that garden, not of palm, acacia and tamarisk, 
but of the olive, the almond, the apple, the cypress and poplar. 
You hear with delight, not the shrill call of the muzzein, but 
the deep-toned bell, in accents of music, inviting to Christian 
prayer. 

THE INTERIOR OF THE CONVENT. 

Of the architecture of the interior, the annexed picture will 
give you some idea, better, perhaps, than could be conveyed by 
words. You need not look for the neatness and the beauty of 
our modern homes, but coarse stone walls, rough coats of 
plaster, long, unhewn palm trunks for joists, and crumbling 
stucco, on layers of reeds, for roofs ; and, if you are at all sensi- 
tive, prepare yourself for the harrassing assaults of those 
stealthy little hopping intruders, whose acquaintance you will 
• be compelled to make, for the convent is as full of them as a 
Bedawin's cassock. Small as the place inclosed is, it is so cut 
up into courts, chapels, narrow avenues, and apartments of 
various kinds, that a stranger easily gets lost amid its dark and 
intricate passages. Before you descend to the court below, step 
into this room and see the Convent Library. 

Here are ancient tomes of Arabic, Greek and Latin — printed 
Greek, 1,500 volumes ; Arabic manuscripts, according to Burck- 
hart, 700. These are said to contain lives of saints, rituals and 
other matter of but little consequence. Two works only, in 
this place, specially arrest the traveler's attention, and are con- 
sidered worthy of a place in his note book. One is a curious 
copy of the Psalter in Greek, written by a female, on twelve 
pages, each less than the size of one of the pages of this book. 



296 



EGYPT AND Sll^Al. 



The handwriting is very neat, but so exceedingly fine and deli- 
cate that it cannot be read without the aid of a powerful mag- 
nifying glass. The other is a beautiful manuscript copy of the 
four gospels, written on a superior article of vellum, in double 
columns, and in letters of gold. It is ornamented with illumi- 
nated portraits of the apostles. The amount of time bestowed 
upon some of these ancient manuscripts must have been enor- 
mous ; but what else had these secluded monks to do? Recent 
researches among the molderiug tomes of these ancient mo- 
nasteries, are bringing to light some valuable contributions to 
the literature of early times. Descending from the upper 
rooms to the court below, we are taken to 

THE WELL OF 31 OSES. 

This spring is pointed out as the place where Moses drew 
water for the flocks of Jethro, and a little up the valley to the 
left is a round-topped bill, which tradition has fixed upon as 
the site of Jethro's house. There is of course nothing improb- 
able in the story that makes tbis the scene of that interesting 
episode in the life of Moses that resulted in his introduction 
into the family of Jethro. He fled from Egypt and dwelt in 
the land of Midian. The seven daughters of the priest of 
Midian came to draw water for their flocks, and the shepherds 
came and drove them away. But Moses took their part and 
helped them. "When this came to the ears of their father, he 
was invited to their home, and was content to dwell with them, 
and Zipporah, one of these daughters, became his wife. If this 
v\^as indeed the place, how interesting the events connected with 
it ! It was a great descent from the luxurious court of Pha- 
rac)h to the humble home and servile life of the desert. But 
'-be was content" to dwell here. He was in the path of duty; 
and the path of duty, bowever far down into the vale of humil- 
iation it may lead, is the sure path to promotion. He made 
himself useful in tbe first things that came to hand, and God 
soon gave him greater work to do. He was faithful in small 
things, and God soon committed great trusts to his care. An 
humble calling and employment in menial duties is no disgrace. 
The shepherd watching his flocks is as much under the eye of 



VISIT TO THE CONVENT. 



297 



Jehovah as the king on his throne. From the lowly occupa- 
tions of life Christ chose his disciples, and from such occupa- 
tions many a one has been raised up to sit with kings and 
princes, and occupy places of the highest honor and authority ; 
and even if such rewards are not bestowed in this life, there 
are crowns, and honor, and glory, for every faithful one, how- 
ever lowl}', in the life to come. The monks keep a cup chained 
to the fountain, and taking a drink from its waters, we passed 
on and entered 

THE CHURCH OF THE TRANSFIGURATION. 

This is a curious and interesting place. It is hung with nu- 
merous pictures — representations of scripture scenes, apostles, 
saints and martyrs — and some portions of it furnished in a 
costly and curious manner. The floor is a beautiful specimen 
of tesselated marble pavement, while the altar, screens, and 
other fixtures are beautifully embellished with gold. The 
vaulted roof of the chancel, finished with costly and elaborate 
mosaic work, is the crowning beauty of the whole. The 
central/ part of this is a rich mosaic, representing the transfigur- 
ation. The figure of Christ occupies the centre. Moses stands 
upon the right, and Elijah upon the left. The three apostles 
are beneath, Peter prostrate upon the ground. A large border 
encircles the whole. In this are wrought numerous busts of 
apostles, martyrs and saints, in oval tablets. There is a Greek 
inscription around the lower part of the great picture, of which 
the following is a translation : 

''In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost : 

"The whole of this work was executed for the salvation of those 
who have contributed to it by their donations, under Longinus, 
the most holy priest and prior." 

Behind the altar, standing upon an elevated platform, is a 
small marble sarcophagus. In this are deposited the remains 
of the revered 

ST. CATHARINE. 

Several fabulous legends have been interwoven with the his- 
tory of her life and death. She died at Alexandria, and her 



298 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



lifeless body, as the romance .informs us, was taken by angels, 
conveyed to the Sinai desert, and deposited upon the top of the 
highest peak in the peninsula. To this peak her name has 
been attached, and Jebel Catharine, or Mount Catharine, is 
prominent among the noted places of this vicinity. It is often 
ascended by travelers for the commanding view that can be 
obtained from its summit over nearly the whole of the penin- 
sula. A rock upon the top of this mountain has been molded, 
by some freak of nature, into the form of a human body. The 
trunk is headless, and the arms appear swathed and pinioned 
like those of a mummy. With this singular rock the monks 
have associated the name and story of the spirit- wafted body 
of Catharine ; and here, they tell us, the form first rested after 
its singular serial flight. The bones of the real body, as the 
legend goes on to inform us, were taken by these mountain 
anchorites and conveyed to Mount Sinai, and she became the 
patron saint of the convent, and from her it received its name. 
The marble chest in which the remains repose is kept securely 
locked, and it is said that only the skull and one hand remain. 
These are richly set in gold. From the Church of the Trans- 
figuration a few steps brought us into 

THE CHAPEL OF THE BURNING BUSH. 

This owes its location to the keen-sightedness of St. Helena 
in discovering sacred localities. By what holy instincts the 
precise spot was so accurately determined we are not informed. 
TV"e were not conscious of being so near holy ground, when 
our guide motioned to us to take ofi" our shoes, setting us an 
example by laying his own aside. The entrance to the chapel 
is from the rear of the altar of the Church of the Transfigura- 
tion. The votive offerings of pious pilgrims are numerous, and 
a number of rich lamps are suspended from the ceiling, in two 
or three of which a faint light is kept continually burning. 
We followed our guide to a little recess in the farther end of 
the chapel. A small spot, about three feet one way and two 
the other, was covered by a kind of altar and overhung with 
richly wrought tapestry. The space beneath was overlaid with 
plates of burnished silver, and the floor about spread with cost- 



A CONSECKATED SPOT. 



299 



Ij pieces of carpet. Our monk fell upon his knees and rever- 
ently kissed the place. ''This," he said, "is the identical spot 
where stood the burning bush." Of course we could have but 
little confidence in the story that had thus definitely located the 
place ; but whether this was the exact place or not, the great 
fact remains unchanged, the burning bush is one of the great 
miracles and mysteries of God's communion with men. We 
realized this now as never before, for if not on this very spot, it 
was in this immediate vicinity the great wonder was seen. My 
imagination pictured Moses, in the obscurity of his retirement, 
leading his flocks about the mount, and patiently waiting in 
this humble calling till God should call him to a more active 
and honorable position. Here the Lord appeared to him in a 
flame of fire out of the midst of a thorny bush; and, behold! 
the bush burned with fire and was not consumed! ''And 
Moses said, I will turn aside and see this great sight." In the 
obscurity and solitude of these mountain dells, Moses was learn- 
ing lessons the populous city and the splendors of the court of 
Pharaoh could never teach; and from here he received his 
great commission to act as the deliverer of his people. From 
the chapel of the burning bush we passed to 

THE MOSQUE AND GARDEN. 

The incongruity of a Mohammedan mosque in a Christian 
convent may need explanation. The story is too long for in- 
sertion here, but it originated in an order from Selim, the Otto- 
man emperor, to have all the Christian establishments in the 
peninsula of Sinai destroyed. The priests of this convent, learn- 
ing that preparations were being made in Egypt to execute this 
barbarous decree, immediately went to work and built a mosque 
within their walls. This show of subserviency to the reigning 
powers and the followers of the Prophet saved them, and the 
mosque has ever since remained. Though long kept in repair, 
it is now in a dirty, dilapidated condition ; and it is said the call 
to prayer is never heard from its minaret, unless chance or ultra 
piety brings some Mohammedan dignitary to the place. 

From the interior of the convent we were taken to the con- 
vent garden. This is on the north of the convent, inclosed by 



i 



300 EGYPT AISTD SINAI. ! 

i 

J a high stone wall, and is reached by a low and partly subterrane- ; 

an passage, strongly secured by an iron door. It appears to best ; 

advantage, from the fact of its being a green and cultivated : 

spot in the midst of the surrounding sterility and desolation. ) 

Various kinds of vegetables and several kinds of fruit trees are : 

cultivated here. The beauty of spring was upon the spot — the i 

trees were in full blossom, filling the air with their rich fra- j 

grance. Much as has been done in reclaiming this spot from ; 

the general barrenness of the desert; much more might be done ] 

by greater industry upon the part of the monks. I saw a num- I 

ber of places in this vicinity where there were large patches of i 

soil that would have well repaid the labor of cultivation, could ] 

the hand of industry have been laid upon them. • 

Our guide called our attention to a certain bush growing in 

the garden, and on inquiry, we were assured it was the identical H 

kind of bush from which Moses cut his rod! It grew to the \ 
hight of about twenty feet, throwing up numerous smooth 

branches or stalks from the bottom, like our elder bush. Ob- ' 

serving one of these branches broken at the root, I inquired of : 

my guide if I could be allowed to cut a walking stick from it. 1 

To this he assented, and I took a piece of it home with me, as - 

a sort of sacred relic, but not, however, with any expectation ; 

of being able to work miracles with it. But what most im- j 

pressed us among all these novel sights, was \ 

THE CHARNEL HOUSE. ; 

This is a partly subterranean chamber in the hill-side, located ^ 

in the very midst of this verdant area. The bloom and beauty ^ 

of life above, the chill damj)s and repulsive odors and wasting | 

decay of death beneath. Some lights, a dish of coals, and a j 

handful of incense to destroy the unpleasant effluvia having j 
been procured, bent nearly double, we followed our conductor 

through the low, dark, vaulted passage. Soon we emerged > 

into an open chamber, and the flickering lights of our tapers i 

revealed the purpose to which these gloomy recesses had been \ 
devoted. This was the cemetery of the convent. Here" was 

the sepulchral home of those whom death was constantly gath- ; 

ering unto himself from the convent above. It was literally a i 



j 



A DESCENT INTO THE TOMB. 301 

place of skulls aucl human bones. We were astonished not 
only at the manner in which they were kept, but at the vast 
number, which, for generations and centuries, had been accumu- 
lating here. The bodies, after death, are left in some exposed 
condition, until the flesh has wasted away ; and then the bones, 
without winding sheet, pall or coffin, are stowed away in this 
lone tenement of the dead. 

Of these rooms there are two of about equal size, connected 
by a low doorway. In each of these rooms you first see a huge 
pile of skulls, heaped together upon the ground- without any 
reference to order, mingled with dirt and rubbish, and covered 
with the gray, furzy mold of ages. The balance of the skele- 
ton, legs, arms and ribs, are then doubled together, so as to 
secure the greatest compactness and economy of space, and 
piled up, one upon another, and layer beliind layer, from floor 
to roof, as a farmer would cord his wood. Thus they lie, heaps 
on heaps, priests, deacons and lay brethren; friar, cenobite and 
anchorite, mingled together in one indiscriminate mass — men 
of all ages, from the early days of fierce persecution, to him 
who died in these more peaceful times of religious toleration. 

Some of the more sanctified ones are honored with a box, or 
small chest, in which their bones are stowed, and some have 
special prominence given them upon some niche or elevation. 
The bones of others are tumbled promiscuously into a basket, 
and some are suspended by cords from the roof. Among these 
are found a few church dignitaries, perhaps some pilgrim of 
wealth and distinction, and the relics of a few, who had gained 
superior merit by their fastings, penances, privations and ex- 
posures in their miserable mountain cells. In one corner, 
perched upon a pedestal, was a skeleton, in a sitting posture, 
bone settled into bone, an old silk cape, of rich material and 
beautifully worked, thrown carelessly about the shoulders, and 
a monk's cap on the head. His long, naked teeth grinned hor- 
ribly from beneath his strange head-dress, and the whole aspect 
was so ghastly as to chill one's blood. The story of this strange 
figure was told us by the monk. His self-denial, fastings, and 
unusual acts of devotion, had excited the admiration of some 
European princess, and the cap and cloak had been bestowed 



302 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



by her upon tlie remains as a token of high regard. In a small 
box, about two feet long and eighteen inches broad, were shown 
ns the skeleton remains of two brothers. It is said they were 
of noble birth, sons of a Persian prince ; they came to this de- 
sert to end their days in religious seclusion. Actuated by a 
strange fanatical zeal, they bound themselves together by a 
heavy iron chain. Thus linked together by ties of kindred, by 
religious vows, and the sterner outward bond of iron links and 
rivets, they wore away the weary days of a life of self-inflicted 
torture. Thus linked together, they faced the terrific frown of 
death, and together died. And now the ghastly skeletons of 
the two claim brotherhood in death; and with the links of 
that same chain still unbroken, those bones are tumbled to- 
gether into this common receptacle. Of the number of these 
skeleton inhabitants, I could form no conjecture, but Stevens, 
who was here in 1835, says the superior of the convent told 
him there were more than thirty thousa.nd I There was some- 
thing shocking in this promiscuous mingling together of hu- 
man bones; the air was close and suffocating, and the offensive 
effluvia prevailed even over the clouds of incense that rose from 
our pan of coals. We were glad to turn our backs upon the 
nauseating place, and once more breathe the pure and fragrant 
air of the garden above. It was now near night, and having 
finished our rambles about the convent and grounds, we made 
arrangements for guides to ascend the mountain with us to- 
morrow ; and leaving a backsheesh to the monk, who had so 
kindly attended us over the premises, we bade them good-night 
and returned to our tent. 

A ROW WITH OUR SHEIK. 

As we were to remain two or three days at the mount, our 
sheik and camel drivers were to improve the time by making a 
visit to their homes, or among other members of the tribe. In 
settling for the services performed, a violent altercation took 
place between our dragoman and the sheik. It was only a war 
of words, but it was carried on with such angry tone and vehe- 
mence of gesticulation, it seemed to me it must terminate in 
violence and blood. In appearance, it was truly terrific. The 



A DESEKT QUAEREL. 



303 



storm, however, seemed at last to abate from the mere exhaus- 
tion of power in the parties; the dissatisfied sheik sulkily with- 
drew with his animals and men, declaring he would render us 
no more assistance if we died in the desert, and Mohammed as 
positively declaring that he would have nothing more to do 
with him, and that neither he nor one of his men or camels 
should render any assistance in returning us to Cairo. 

As the contest was carried on in Arabic, I could get no clue 
to it. As soon as the camp was clear and quiet restored, " Mo- 
hammed," said I, " what is the fuss ? " In answer to this ques- 
tion, he very seriously informed me that he had lost from his 
commissary department a tin pan, and believing that some of 
the sheik's attendants had stolen it, he made him responsible for 
its recovery, and, on settlement, had deducted its value, fifteen 
piasters, from his wages. The sheik was highly indignant at 
the insinuation against his honesty, and more enraged at the 
loss of even so small a portion of his wages. ''And how do you 
expect to get back to Cairo?" said L ''You no need trouble 
yourself about that," said he ; " that's my business. I am bound 
to do that. There are other men and other camels here besides 
his." So the matter rested. But I had seen enough of Arabic 
quarrels to know how it would terminate. I will be bound he 
and his camels and men will be on hand "Wednesday morning, 
ready to return with us. See if they are not. And now we 
have a couple of hours before retiring to rest, let us improve 
them by studying 

THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE MOUNTAIN 

And the valleys about it, that we may be better prepared to 
understand the localities we are about to visit, and the astonish- 
ing events that have transpired here. To aid in this, we will 
draw a diagram of the place, as seen on the following page. 
To this diagram we now invite your attention : 

^0. 1 and the arrow represent the Yalley of Eahah and our 
approach to the mountain. In this approach we were traveling 
in nearly a southeast direction, the bold granite front of the 
mountain rising up before us almost perpendicularly from the 
plain to the hight of near two thousand feet. E"o. 2 is the same 



304 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



valley widenmg out into a broad plain, the Plain of Ealiah, or 
" Plain of Kest," some call it ; others, the ^' Inclosed Plain," for 
great mountains rise up all around you, and seem to completely 
encircle you with their bold ridges and lofty peaks. The plain 
widens as you approach Sinai. There is a gentle ascent as you 
near the mountain, until you come within about one mile of it, 




PLAN OF SINAI AND HOREB. 



1. Wady Eahah. 2. Plain of Eahali. 3. Wady Sheik. 4. Place of our en- 
campment. 5. Convent, 6. Mold of Aaron's calf. 7. Smitten Kock. 8. "Wady 
Leja. 9. Wady Shuayb. 10. Wady Sebayeli and hills. 11. Sand and gravel 
hills. 12. Mount St. Catharine. 13. Low hills. 

then there is a gentle descent towards the mountain. This 
plain is about one mile broad. The length, of course, would 
vary according to the distance the person was disposed to 
measure back into the valley, where it narrows into a ravine. 
Eobinson measured the southern slope, and found it to be to 
the base of Horeb over a mile, or, accurately, seven thousand 
feet. The northern slope he judged to be somewhat less than 



THE PLAIN OF EEST. 



305 



a mile. I have no disposition to criticise or attempt to correct 
the measurements or the judgment of one who has written so 
accurately as Robinson; but as I looked over this noble plain, I 
could not but feel that if he had erred, it was in underestimat- 
ing, rather than in overrating, its size. As we approached the 
mountain, from where a turn in the valley first brought us in 
full view of Horeb, we rode at the usual camel pace over an 
hour before we reached the base of the mountain. 

At the southwest corner of this plain, you will see it again 
widens, and a broad space extends into an opening among the 
mountains in that direction, l^o. 3 and the arrow pointing 
outward, is Wady es Sheik, the ^'Yalley of the Sheik," or 

The Valley of the Saint," so named from the tomb of some 
noted personage among the Arabs, whose remains have found 
a sepulchre in one part of it. The Plain of Eahah opens also 
into this on the southeast, furnishing a large addition to its 
area in that direction. We are thus particular in describing 
this plain, because we wish to fix the reader's attention particu- 
larly upon it, as w^e shall have occasion to allude to it again. 
On this plain — who can doubt it who visits the spot? — was the 
grand encampment of the children of Israel. From this plain 
was witnessed those sublime and terrible exhibitions, that made 
the mountain tremble, and the people draw back with terror 
at the majesty and glory of the presence of God. l^ow look 
at the peculiar 

SITUATION OF THE MOUNTAIN. 

Opening from Wady es Sheik just at the point E'o. 4, where 
we pitched our tents, and running along up to 'No. 5, where the 
convent is located, and thence along No. 9, is another narrow 
valley along the whole eastern slope of Sinai and Horeb, called 
Wady Shuayb. This terminates at ISTo. 10, along the southeast- 
ern corner of the cluster, in a broader valley, called Sebaj-eh ; 
from this a valley runs round the whole southern base towards 
ISTo. 11. There is, between Sinai and the high mountains lying 
south of it, quite an open space, but it is altogether difierent 
from the plain of Rahah upon the north. It is uneven and 
broken, and covered by naked hills of sand and gravel. Stev- 



306 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



ens, who visited it with a special view of examining its fitness 
for a camping place for the Israelites, says of it : " It is rough, 
uneven and narrow." He conchides : " It could only be taken 
for the place of the encampment, if none other existed." The 
summit of Sinai here rises in a commanding form above it, but 
as the mountain descends upon the plain it is rolling and brok- 
en, and mountain and plain are blended into each other. 

Again, upon the western side of Sinai we have another val- 
ley, JSTo. 8, called Wady Leja. This is a deep, narrow gorge, 
running from the plain of Eahah all along the western base of 
Sinai and Horeb to the very northern extremity, separating it 
from St. Catharine, Um Shomer and the high mountain peaks 
upon the west. 

Thus it will be seen we have this Mountain of the Lord, 
noted for the strange and interesting events connected with it, 
most strikingly and singularly located — completely separated, 
as it were, by these plains, ravines and valleys, from the great 
mountain piles that encircle it on every side, and completely 
shut it in. A sanctuary of hills, inclosed within the mighty 
ramparts that the everlasting Jehovah, with the skill and pow- 
er of Omnipotence, has heaped around it. 

This elevation of hills we have thus been describing, and 
which we have found so peculiarly situated, at the base is about 
three miles long, and probably from a mile and a half to two 
miles broad. Its highest elevation is, above the level of the sea, 
seventy-five hundred and sixty-four feet ; above the convent in 
the valley at its base, twenty-one hundred and twelve feet. 
Though broken into many wild and ragged ravines and eleva- 
tions, it rises at last into two great peaks — to the southern one 
the name of Sinai has been more particularly attached, to the 
northern one, Horeb. The confusion and misunderstandings 
that have arisen from the use of these terms, will make appro- 
priate a more particular allusion to the 

NAME OP THE MOUNTAIN. 

The first allusion we have to the place is in Exodus iii. 1. In 
speaking of Moses, we are informed " he led the flock to the 
backside of the desert, and came to the Mountain of God, even 



SINAI AND HO KEB. 307 

to Horeb." Here it was the angel of God appeared to him 
in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. After this, we 
have frequent allusions to it under the same name. In allusion 
to the making of the golden calf, Israel is said to have been 
" stripped of their ornaments by Mount Horeb." The Lord is 
said to have "spoken to the people in Horeb;" and in Horeb 
he made his covenant with his people. The same writer, Mo- 
ses, who uses the name of Horeb, speaks of the same events as 
occurring at Sinai. Thus he speaks of the "Lord's coming 
unto them in Sinai ; " " the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount 
Sinai ; " " the Lord gave Moses at Mount Sinai two tables of 
stone." ITothing is plainer than that Sinai and Horeb were two 
difterent names applied to the same locality. Some have sup- 
posed that Horeb might have been a general name applied to 
a large extent of country, or a whole range of mountains, and 
Sinai a particular locality or peak, but I can find no evidence 
even of that. The present application of Sinai to one peak, 
and Horeb to another, is a modern appropriation of the names, 
and not to be taken into the account in determining the locali- 
ty of particular scriptural events. If the earlier Christians or 
modern monks chose to call the southern peak Sinai, or Jebel 
Mousa, and the northern peak Horeb, it does not thence follow 
that we must fix the scene of the giving of the law upon their 
Sinai. 'Nor must we necessarily infer, as Robinson seems to, 
that because the peak now called Sinai does not overlook the 
plain of Rah ah, where the children of Israel must have been 
encamped, that therefore Moses had nothing to do with it. It 
is by no means certain, that even the monks, in fixing the name 
Sinai, or Jebel Mousa — Mountain of Moses — upon the peak that 
overlooks their convent, meant thereby to be understood that 
they claimed it as the place of all the wonderful phenomena 
that accompanied the giving of the law. It might have been 
the part of the mount upon which the burning bush was seen, 
and on this portion of it Moses might have had some of his 
long interviews with God ; on another portion of it he might 
have stood to receive the tables of the law, and God have 
shone forth from the cloud, and appeared in glory in the pres- 
ence of all the people. 
18 



308 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



Sinai and Horeb are all one mountain. As one mountain, 
separated from all about them, they spring up from the plain. 
And it is not until they rise as one more than a thousand feet, 
that the top is cleft asunder, and the two separate peaks rise in 
bold and solemn grandeur, the one perhaps the scene of Moses' 
retirement and communion with God, the other the consecrated 
spot where the Almighty stood in his glory and majesty — the 
awe-inspiring pulpit from which he proclaimed his law. And 
when he touched the mount and his glory kindled upon it, it 
was not one solitary peak only that felt his presence, but the 
whole mountain was in a blaze, and the whole mountain trembled 
to its base. 

Having thus described the locality of the mountain, and set- 
tled the application of the name, we have another question to 
determine before our evening's work is done. Do these locali- 
ties correspond with the scriptural narrative ? First, then, let 
us raise an inquiry as to 

THE DESIGN OF ISRAEL'S VISIT HERE. 

In leading his people out of Egypt, God had great and im- 
portant ends to attain, aside from their mere settlement in the 
land of their fathers. He had a revelation of himself to make — 
his law to impart to them. He had to instruct them in a knowl- 
edge of their duties to him and each other. He had an im- 
portant system of worship to establish. An ignorant and un- 
disciplined mass of people were to be instructed and trained, 
and brought under the restraints of law and order. A great 
revolution in the moral and religious regimen of the world was 
to be developed. The old patriarchal system w^as to be broken 
up and abolished, to be supplanted by a new system of faith 
and worship ; and a whole twelve-month's time was to be spent 
in the inauguration and establishment of this new order of 
things. 

In carrying this plan into effect, two things were absolutely 
essential. They must find a place in these mountain recesses 
where they could be secure from their enemies, and where a 
great multitude could find an appropriate place for an encamp- 
ment. That such a place was found here, we think will appear 



A SECURE DWELLING PLACE. 309 

evident to any one who examines, even casually, the plain and 
its surroundings. Look then at 

THE PLACE OF THE ENCAMPMENT. 

This place we have shown you on the Plain of Rahah, and 
its adjacent valleys. There is not another spot in all this re- 
gion so well adapted to it as this— a beautiful, level, gravelly 
plain, of ample dimensions — a place, at that time, where con- 
siderable vegetation existed, though that was not absolutely es- 
sential, except for their animals, as their own immediate wants 
were supplied by the perpetual miracle of the manna. Here, 
too, was water — an abundance of good, sweet water — for the 
most of the springs of the desert are found in the immediate 
vicinity of Sinai. 

Then, as a place of security and defense, what general could 
ever have chosen a more prudent and secure position? If the 
Creator had designed it for this express purpose, could it have 
been more admirably adapted? It appears that they had ene- 
mies strong and powerful. They had left an enemy behind 
them in Egypt. The nations and tribes about looked upon 
them with jealousy, and arrayed themselves in hostility against 
them. Already the Amalekites had opposed them, and they 
had fought their way through Rephidim. For the peaceful 
purposes of religious instruction, the establishment of law and 
order, they must now have a place where they could remain 
unmolested till their tuition was over. To such a place the 
Lord brought them. It was a by-place, far away from the 
thoroughfares of travel by the surrounding nations. It was a 
quiet desert sanctuary, where they would be likely to remain 
undisturbed. It was a secure, place easily defended. Look at 
the diagram we have given, and observe the passes that lead to 
it through those openings in the mountains. In their then 
mode of warfare, a handful of men could have defended any 
of these passes against a multitude. Again, it was an 

ENCAMPMENT BEFORE THE MOUNT. 

In the second verse of the nineteenth chapter of Exodus we 
read, that when the children of Israel removed from Eephidim 



310 



EGYPT AKD SINAI. 



they came into the desert of Sinai, and there Israel encamped 
before the mountJ^ The remark seems to have been a casual 
one,, and certainly made without any design of aiding future 
visitors in fixing the locality of the place ; and yet we now see 
how accurately the language corresponds with the position. 
The mountain we have seen, rising up in majestic altitude, its 
perpendicular walls, like frowning battlements, looking down 
upon the Plain of Ealiah. An assembly of people resting upon 
this plain, may literally and truly be said to be encamped he- 
fore the mount." The existence of such a plain, in such a situa- 
tion, is, as one has said, "so remarkable a coincidence with 
the sacred narrative, as to furnish a strong internal argument, 
not merely of its identity with the scene, but of the scene itself 
having been described by an eye witness." Another evidence 
of a similar kind is furnished by 

THE BOUNDARIES ABOUT THE MOUNT. 

The directions and precautions given to Moses would, in or- 
dinary circumstances, seem very strange and unnecessary, and, 
in most instances, very difficult to comply with. G-od was 
about to make an exhibition of himself upon the mount, and 
that mount was to be considered a sacred place. Its sanctity 
must be invaded by no intruder of man or beast. " And thou 
shalt set bounds to the people round about, saying, take heed 
to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount or touch the bor- 
der of it; whosoever toucheth the mount shall surely be put to 
death." Ex. xix. 12. This stern and imperative command ap- 
plied to both man and beast. 

Visit almost any mountain or mountain range, and how rare 
a thing it is that a mountain comes down so directly, and with 
such abrupt descent upon the plain, that you can determine 
just where the mountain begins. There is usually such a ming- 
ling of hill and valley, of gentle ascent and descending slope, 
your are often far up the ascent before 3^ou are aware that you 
have reached the mountain, and it would be most difficult to 
say when you had touched the borders of it. But here is a locali- 
ty, strange as it may seem, answering exactly to the scriptural 
precaution given by Moses to the people. Just here by our en- 



THE MOUNTAIN A WITNESS. 



311 



campment, and all along the base of the mountain towards the 
west, as we have before noticed, this great granite wall rises so 
abruptly and perpendicularly from the plain, you can come di- 
rectly up to it and lay your hand upon it, like standing upon 
the ground and laying your hand upon the perpendicular wall 
of a house. And we were surprised, as we walked over the 
ground, to find a long, low, alluvial mound, at a little distance 
from the perpendicular clifi", and running along for a great dis- 
tance nearly parallel to it, as if left there to remind the visitor 
that a boundary was once built here by the direction of the Al- 
mighty. Thus, again, have we this remarkable coincidence of 
the features of the mountain and plain with the scripture nar- 
rative; another evidence, among others, that no careless or 
ignorant writer was wielding the pen that recorded the phe- 
nomena and incidents of Israel's encampment on this plain. 

And then, again, the locality of the plain, and the position 
of the mountain as a fit and appropriate place for the people to 
witness such an exhibition of the majesty and glory of God, 
and from which the words of the Almighty could be addressed 
to the vast multitudes, impress every beholder as he ap- 
proaches the place ; and every subsequent examination of the 
localities only deepens the impressions. Surely the hand of 
God is in these things. These mountain hights and plains and 
valleys are pages of God's great historic book, and here he has 
written lessons three thousand years have not had power to 
efiace. The testimony of Moses has been perpetuated by the 
hand of man, and the testimony of these desert pages by the 
power of God ; both now conspire to establish his veracity and 
wisdom, and witness to the truth of the story of Israel's visit 
and God's revelation. Once has the Almighty spoken, twice 
have we heard his voice, and no one can stand on this plain, and 
look up to yon sublime mountain hight, and not be impressed 
with the legible traces of God's Handwriting that has been left 
on all about him. 

And now we have been round the base of the mountaiu ; 
have looked into the valleys and ravines that encircle it; have 
see the altitude and form of the majestic elevation, and the pe- 
culiar position of the plain upon which Israel encamped " be- 



312 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



fore the mount." From this examination we shall now be bet- 
ter prepared to ascend the Mount of God — to go under the im- 
pression that we are climbing along the pathway where Moses 
ascended to receive the law ; visiting the localities where some 
of the most remarkable phenomena that have attended the 
revelation of God to man have taken place. While we have 
been engaged on this, the evening hours have stolen away, our 
candle has burned low into its socket, the camp-fire has gone 
out, and Mohammed and the cook are enjoying a profound 
slumber. Let us seek a night's rest. To-morrow, at 8 o'clock, 
we are to meet our guides, and make the ascent of the moun- 
tain — a rare privilege, which comparatively few are permitted 
to enjoy. 



CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIIT. 



313 



CHAPTER XI y. 

Ascent of Sinai and Horeb — Sights by the Way — Eeflec- 
tions upon the summit — descent and yiew of the 
Mountain from the Plain. 

31arch 4dh. This is the coolest morning we have seen in the 
desert. The water left standing in our wash-pan froze over in 
a short time. We are now so far elevated in these mountain- 
ous regions as to have quite a different climate from what we 
had along the sea-shore. Our breakfast was soon over, and we 
were anxious to commence the ascent of the mountain. 

The guides for these excursions are usually furnished by the 
convent. "We had one monk and one of the menial Arabs, a 
number of whom are employed about the convent, and whose 
living seems to depend upon the small allowances received from 
the Christian inmates. Either one of them would have been 
sufficient, but the monks, in all their arrangements, wish to con- 
ciliate the Arabs, so they allow them to share in these atten- 
tions to visitors, and receive a small share of the compensation. 
The charge for these guides is one dollar and fifty cents a day 
for each. 

About 8 o'clock we passed out of the gate of the rear wall 
of the convent, and immediately commenced the ascent. Our 
Arab servant carried upon his head a basket of supplies, for 
our refreshment during the excursion. This was a kind gratui- 
ty upon their part, but quite a fortunate arrangement for us. 
The contents consisted, as we afterwards found, of a bottle of 
arrack, dried dates and figs, with coffee. The arrack we should 
not have ordered, had we been consulted about the arrange- 
ment, but the monks seem to think it one of the necessaries of 
life. 



314 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



We took a narrow path leading diagonally up the mountain 
side. It was quite steep and rocky, and in many places diffi- 
cult of ascent. In less than half an hour we reached a cool, 
refreshing spring, imbedded in rocks in a deep ravine, and 
sending out a copious stream of clear, sweet water. Here we 
stopped a few minutes to rest and refresh ourselves. Our path 
now became more difficult. It wound along the bed of this 
narrow ravine, tall cliffs rising up on the right and left, while 
we picked our way among huge granite bowlders, scattered 
about in wild profusion. Along the more difficult and precip- 
itous passes, the monks have arranged the stones in artificial 
stairways to facilitate the ascent. We soon reached a small, 
rudely built, dilapidated chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, 
vulgarly known as 

THE CHAPEL OF THE FLEAS. 

The story of its erection is as follows : The monks in the 
convent were once assailed by such swarms of fieas they were 
compelled, for their own comfort, to leave the place. This they 
did, resolving never to return. With many regrets at leaving 
their old home, they commenced a mournful march up the 
mountain side. At this place they were met by the Virgin 
Mary — in what form she appeared I could not learn- — who com- 
miserated their condition, and gave them solemn assurance if 
they would return she would expel their tormentors. They 
did return, and the story says the convent has since been free 
from these troublesome intruders — and yet not entirely free, as 
I can testify from experience. For this remarkable deliverance, 
this chapel was built and dedicated to the Virgin. We went 
in. -It was a miserable, dirty place, and sadly out of repair. 
The careless monks, I fear, had either forgotten the favor, or 
the remembrance of it no longer excited their gratitude. Upon 
the arching of a little door leading into a kind of sacristy, 
where stood an altar and font for holy water, I read the 
name, "Eev. B. P. Durbin, IT. S. America." I had not thought 
of leaving my own name, but a sudden impulse moved me. I 
reached up, wrote and left ni}^ name beneath that of my distin- 
guished fellow-countryman. These chapels upon the mountain 



/ 

ASCENT OF SINAI. 



315 



are in a sadly neglected condition ; in some of them the doors 
are broken down, and goats herd within their walls. 

OLD GATEWAYS AND GARDENS. 

Continning our ascent along a mountain ravine, we passed a 
narrow gateway, arched with stone, and soon after, another, 
similarly constructed. Here, it is said, in former days, a monk 
was always stationed to confess the pilgrims that ascended to 
the higher and holier parts of the mountain. This supersti- 
tious practice, however, was long since abandoned, and these 
little gatew^ays are fast crumbling to ruin. Passing on above . 
this, we came to a beautiful garden-spot upon the mountain. 
This was a depression or basin in the mountain side — a sort of 
amphitheatre, containing an acre or two of ground. The hills 
rose up in gentle slopes all around it, while on one side still far 
above us w^e lifted our eyes to the lofty peak of Sinai. In the 
center of this was a small stone tower, and near it a beautiful 
spring of water, handsomely walled round by the labor of the 
monks; while above the spring a tall cypress lifted its thick 
and sombre branches. Several little patches of ground here 
and there were under cultivation by the monks, and a number 
of fruit trees had recently been planted. Here, also, we saw 
two quails, the only birds we saw in our ascent up the moun- 
tain. In contrast with the bleak, sterile rocks that sur- 
rounded it, and the w^ild mountain scenery that towered above 
it, this was a bright and charming spot. I could not resist the 
impression that this secluded dell must have been one of Moses' 
favorite resorts for contemplation and communion with God. 
After refreshing ourselves for a short season in this attractive 
place, we again commenced our ascent. The next place of in- 
terest we reached was a low stone building, with a flat roof of 
reeds and clay, containing 

THE CHAPELS OF ELIJAH AND ELISHA. 

The chapel of Elijah covers a small grotto in the rocks, and 
is shown as the place in which the Prophet rested when he fled 
into the desert from the persecuting malice of Ahab and Jeze- 
bel, and came to the Mount of God. It was a natural cave 



316 



EGYPT AKD SINAI. 



among the granite rocks, about large enough for three persons 
in a stooping or sitting posture. We went into the httle grotto, 
sat down, and recalled the interesting episode in the life of the 
Prophet that gave so much interest to the place. I saw him 
first, as, weary and oppressed in his flight, he slept under a ju- 
niper tree. Aroused by the angel of God, he refreshed himself 
with the cake of bread and the cruise of oil that had been so 
miraculously prepared for him, and went on the strength of 
that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the Mount of 
God. " And he came thither unto a cave and lodged there." 
1st Kings xix. 9. 

Afterward came the inquiring voice of the Lord God, 
"What doest thou here, Elijah?" "And he said, I have been 
very jealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Is- 
rael have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, 
and slain thy prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am 
left, and they seek my life to take it away." Then came that 
wonderful exhibition of the Divine power and glory. A ter- 
riffic wind swept over these mountain peaks, and went howling 
through these mountain gorges. The terrors of an earthquake 
shook the mountain, and it trembled, as when of old the Lord 
set his feet upon it in the presence of Israel. Then a kindling 
fire, as if with the fierceness of the judgment day, seemed to 
wrap all in a consuming flame. But these terrific manifesta- 
tions passed away. They were but the precursors of the Di- 
vine presence — a calm and solemn stillness succeeded, and in a 
still, small voice, God communicated his will to the trembling 
and adoring Prophet. "And it was so when Elijah heard it 
he wrapt his face in his mantle, and went out and stood at the 
entering in of the cave," and received instruction from the Al- 
mighty. Was this the place? I could not say it was, yet it 
was probably in this very mount, and I seemed to be near the 
scene of those solemn and interesting events. What sublime 
and wonderful exhibitions of God have been made amid these 
mountain rocks and dells ! 

Leaving this traditional spot of Elijah's interview with God, 
we passed on towards the top of the mountain. How often we 
paused to wonder if it was really along these narrow pathways 



ASCENT OF SINAI. 



317 



that Moses climbed in his intimate interviews with God! Our 
path was now growing steeper and more difficult. It was only 
by the aid of a rude stone stairway, constructed by the monks, 
that we were able to ascend at all. 

A camel's foot-print. 

As we moved along this rugged pathway, the guide called 
our attention to a singular impression upon a level place in the 
bed of rocks, said to be a foot-print of Mohammed's camel, 
left there when he ascended to the top of the mount. Various 
stories are told of this somewhat singular impression. Its 
shape is prescisely such as would be left by a camel's foot pressed 
upon some soft substance. Some affirm it to be an accidental 
indentation of the rock; while some of the Arabs stoutly 
assert that it was actually made by the foot of the beast on 
which the Prophet rode, though it does not appear likely any 
camel could ever have made his way along this rough, precip- 
itous ascent. Some say it was made by some mischievous 
monk of the monastery, to produce some superstitious effect 
upon the Moslem Arabs. Certain it is, many of these Arabs 
seem fully to believe it was actually made by the beast of the 
Prophet. The toilsome ascent was at last completed, and about 
two hours and a half after leaving the convent, we stood 

ON THE SUMMIT OF SINAlI 

According to Stanley's measurement, we had ascended, from 
the level of the sea to reach the convent of St. Catharine, 5,452 
feet, to reach the top of the mount, 2,112 feet more, making 
the summit of Sinai 7,564 feet above the sea. The mountain 
is an elevation of bare granite peaks, red granite at the base, 
and gray granite as you near the top. Very little vegetation 
grows upon it ; for the last thousand feet, scarce any thing is 
seen, and but very little soil. A few hardy herbs take root in 
the crevices of the rocks and among the bowlders, but no tree 
or bush is seen near the top. In several places, sheltered from 
the sun, quite large bodies of snow were yet to be seen, slowly 
melting away under the influence of the increasing heat of 
summer. 



318 



EGYPT A>TD Sli^AI. 



■ The top of the mount is a pointed peak, and cannot be mis- 
taken. There is a diameter of thirty or forty paces upon 
which you can walk about, though quite rocky and uneven. 
A few paces below the summit is a cleft in the rock, about 
large enough to admit the body of a man. This, according to 
the monks, is the place in which Moses was hid when the Lord 
passed by and proclaimed his glory. On the top is a Moslem 
mosque and a Christian chapel. The mosque has fallen into 
decay, and is no longer used. The chapel is still taken care of 
by the monks, and is ornamented with candlesticks, lamps and 
pictures. One of the first things our attendant did, was to 
open the chapel, having brought the key with him, light the 
lamps, burn incense, and perform his devotions at the altar. 
But all these things were nothing to me. The mountain itself 
was a great consecrated altar ; the sun in the heavens the illum- 
inating lamp ; the aspirations of an adoring heart the incense. 

Here ice stand upon the Mount of God ! Here is the end of 
our journey. For this we have made our long and weary pil- 
grimage across the desert. This mount has been the chosen 
theatre for one of the most glorious and astounding revelations 
of God to man the world has ever witnessed. On this mount 
God once came down in awful grandeur and majesty; and on 
this sublime elevation his glory was displayed. I withdrew 
from my companions behind the cover of a rock, and gave 
myself up to the emotions the place was calculated to inspire. 
I read aloud from my Bible a description of the august and im- 
posing scene, when the mount was made to tremble beneath the 
majesty and glory of the presence of Deity. I read the com- 
mandments that were rehearsed in the hearing of the people. 
I fell on my knees, and lifted up my heart and voice in prayer 
to Almighty God ; and here I fulfilled the pledge I made to my 
church and people, that I would pray for them from the top of 
Sinai. It was to me an hour of devout and solemn communion 
with the God of Abraham and of Isaac, of Jacob and of Moses. 

DESCENT FROM THE MOUNT. 

We spent from an hour and a half to two hours upon the 
top of the mount. During this time our Arab servant succeed- 



ASCENT OF HOEEB. 



319 



ed in gathering sufficient dry herbage to kindle a little fire, and 
boil some fresh coffee, from which, with the dates and brown 
bread he had brought with him, he served us a very accept- 
able and refreshing lunch. Our repast over, we took our last 
earnest look from the top of the mount, bade a reluctant fare- 
well to the place, and commenced our descent, not to return to 
our tents, but to ascend the Horeb peak. This part of the 
mount, many think, and with good reason too, is the place 
from which the law was actually proclaimed. This is called by 
the Arabs Jebel Safsafeh, the Mountain of the "Willow, so called 
from one or two willow trees that grow upon it. 

We descended by the same path that had led us to the top, 
until we came to the place we have before described, where are 
found the cypress tree, the fountain of water, and the chapel of 
Elijah. From this we passed in a northerly direction, along 
the western brow of a ridge lying between the two peaks. 
The path was a very rough and fatiguing one ; sometimes we 
were descending into valleys, sometimes climbing over rough 
and naked ridges. In this way we passed on, I should think, 
near two miles, keeping about the same average elevation upon 
the mountain. In one place we passed an old stone chapel, 
erected in honor of John the Baptist, and then another dedi- 
cated to the " Virgin of the Zone." These chapels, I suppose, 
were used in former days, when these mountain caverns were 
occupied by the religious devotees who had here secluded them- 
selves from the world. They have now ceased to be used, and 
are rapidly falling into ruins. 

From this last chapel the summit of Safsafeb, or Horeb, is 
seen towering upward in bold, naked, precipitous peaks. 'Near 
this we came upon the ruins of an old willow tree. The main 
trunk of the tree had perished, either from the decay of age 
or from the destructive hands of the Arabs. From the decay- 
ing stalks we took the liberty of cutting each of us a cane, the 
only opportunity we found of securing such a trophy upon the 
whole mount, aside from the cultivated shrubs of the convent 
garden. The almost utter barrenness of this mountain scen- 
ery is one of its striking peculiarities. The cheerless sterility of 
naked rocks surround you on every side. Shrubs and trees, 



320 



EGYPT AND SUSTAI. 



and grass and flowers, are not found here, to give variety and 
beauty to the landscape. 

THE ASCENT OF HOREB. 

We saw we liad some hard climbing to do to reach the sum- 
mit of those precipitous cliffs. It is impossible for one to con- 
ceive, without an actual visit to the place, the wild and rugged 
aspect of this pile of granite peaks. They are smooth, solid 
masses of stone, some of the points so sharp it is impossible to 
ascend them ; while here and there are precipitous cliffs, and 
immense yawning chasms, with huge bowlders scattered about 
in strange and wild confusion. 

Our monk, wearied with his long walk, concluded to remain 
at the base of these cliffs, and sent the Arab servant on with 
us. Our design was to get upon one of the highest peaks over- 
looking the plain of Eahah. The guide proceeded with us for 
some distance, conducted us to a shelving point of rock that 
overlooked a deep chasm below, and then endeavored to make 
us understand that this was as far as travelers ever went. We 
were not satisfied, and insisted on being taken on to a higher 
point. He shook his head forbiddingly, but we determined to 
proceed. We retraced our steps part way to where we had 
left the monk, and shouted to him for assistance. He replied 
by telling us that travelers did not go to the top of the mount. 
This we did not believe, for we knew others had ascended ; and 
to the top we had determined to go, if we had to go without 
monk or Arab. We took another course, and again com- 
menced the ascent. By this time we were satisfied our guide 
knew no more about the way than we did, so we left him to 
take^ care of himself, and took the matter into our own hands. 
We climbed on up the steep, rocky ascent, sometimes on all 
fours, holding on with both hands, and climbing along the edge 
of precipices of frightful hight, till we could get no further; 
still we were at least a hundred feet below the summit. Again 
we retraced our steps, took a circuit around to another portion 
of the mount, and again climbed our way upward. The grit 
of the rocks was so sharp as to cut our hands and tear our 
clothes, and we sometimes had to climb on hands and knees. 



ON THE SUMMIT OF HOREB. 



321 



But our efforts at last proved successful. We gained not the 
highest point, for we saw two higher peaks back of us, but we 
gained a point that overlooked the plain below. 

It was by perseverance, and hard, laborious toil, we reached 
the place; but we were richly rewarded for all our efforts. 
Robinson, Durbiu, Stanley and others, had climbed to these 
summits before me, and had all been impressed with the ap-. 
propriateness of the place for that grand display of majesty 
and glory, when God came down upon the mount in the pres- 
ence of the people. There was the great plain of Rahah, lying 
just at our feet — a beautiful camping place for the many 
thousands of Israel. Stretching away beyond it, was the long, 
low range of hills — Sena and Fureia — upon which thousands 
more might have been gathered in full view of the mount. 
Opening away down to the right was the Wady es Sheik, 
along which valley three or four miles the encampment might 
have spread, and yet all have been in view of these tall peaks, 
covered with the majesty and glory of God. 

And there, I said, as I looked down upon the plain, was the 
l^lace of the encampment! There Moses w^ent down to sanctify 
and prepare the people. Along the edge of that plain, from 
which the mountain rises so abruptly, he set boundaries about 
the mountain, and there the people drew back with astonish- 
ment and affright at the awful exhibitions of the glory of God. 
What strange emotions I felt as I looked down upon that plain ! 
What a multitude of reflections came crowding upon my mind I 
I recalled the time when that broad plain and these hill-sides 
and surrounding valleys w^ere dotted over with the tents, and 
swarming with the gathered hosts of Israel's tribes. These 
mountain fastnesses were to them a refuge and a sanctury. 
Here they learned how to worship God. On that plain, that 
lay just at my feet, the busy multitude labored to prepare the 
Tabernacle of God. There they collected the gold and the 
silver, the fine linen, the blue, the purple and scarlet. There 
they cast the silver blocks of the foundation, and hewed the 
boards, and overlaid them with gold. There Bezaleel had his 
forge and shop; and there cunning workmen, with a skill 
kindled by a strange inspiration, prepared the golden candle- 



322 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



stick, the table of shew bread, the altar of incense, and, more 
than all, the wonderful ark, with the mercv seat and golden 
cherubims, upon the wings of which rested the Shekinah, the 
abiding token of God's glory in the midst of the camp. 

There, encircled by that amphitheatre of hills, was God's 
sanctuary; there was his congregation; and more than all, 
where I now stand was his majestic pulpit, with its awful 
canopy of clouds and fire. Was ever before or since such an 
audience ! such a pulpit ! such a preacher ! such a sermon ! So 
terrible was the scene that Moses said : " I exceedingly fear and 
qnake." And all the people drew back awe-stricken, and, 
retiring into yonder mountain recesses, said unto Moses : " Speak 
thou with us and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, 
lest we die." 

It was an impressive region of solitude and silence; of 
mountain ruggedness and sublimity ; of solemn and soul stir- 
ring remembrances ! I stood overawed and adoring, amid the 
majestic grandeur and awful sublimity of the scene. I felt 
like Elijah, when, on this same mount, he went forth and stood 
at the entering in of the cave. The tempest, the earthquake, 
and the fire had all passed, and in the midst of the solemn 
silence that gathered about the mountain peaks, I heard only 
the " still small voice," and, like him, I covered my face in rever- 
ence and communed with God. 

THE DESCENT TO OUR TENTS. 

Our stay upon the mount must not be protracted. Would it 
not be pleasant, like Moses, to linger here forty days in com- 
munion with God? Let us go, having that holy law that was 
here uttered, amid such majesty and glory, more deeply than 
ever impressed upon our hearts. Slowly and reverently we 
turned away. We shall never visit the hallowed spot again; 
but the impressions that have now been made upon our hearts 
will not soon be effaced. 

We had been standing almost directly above our tents, and 
we made a rapid and direct descent towards our encampment. 
We passed down through a ravine, so precipitous that a pas- 
sage would have been impracticable had it not been for the 



LEGENDAEY LOCALITIES. 



323 



roughness of the rocks. Upon these we were enabled to hold, 
and thus resist the force of gravity that would otherwise have 
sent us headlong to the plain below. 

The sun had sunk far below the hoary peaks of Sinai, Horeb 
and St. Catharine, when, weary and hungry, we reached our 
tents. The cook had anticipated our wants, and the smoking 
viands were soon spread for our refreshment. We ate with a 
relish that abstinence and hard labor only can beget, and were 
soon enjoying the rest our weary limbs so much needed. 

March bth. Another night was passed in safety. "We found 
ourselves so lame and stiff from our long mountain excursion 
yesterday, we had but little inclination to repeat the excessive 
labor. Mr. Baker took the guides and started for an excursion 
to the tall summit of St. Catharine, while Mr. Lempriere and 
myself concluded to remain nearer home, and spend the day 
about the base of Sinai. Desolate as the country is, one does 
not soon tire of wandering among its wild and rugged scenery. 
Besides, there are many localities here that stand, in name at 
least, identified with the scripture narrative. Here, close by 
our tent, is the Hill of Aaron ; yonder, a round-topped elevation 
of a peculiar green color, pointed out as the site of Jethro's 
house. 

THE MOLD OE AARON'S GALE. 

One of the monks accompanied us, and took us first to the 
mold in the rock where a superstitious fancy has fixed the place 
of the casting of the golden calf. Its location may be seen by 
reference to llTo. 6 on the diagram on page 304. It is a small, 
hollow place in the rocks near the base of the mountains, about 
the size and somewhat the shape of an ox's head. It requires, 
however, a great stretch of imagination to transform it into a 
suitable mold for such a purpose as Aaron would have required. 
That it is something in the shape of a calf's head, cannot be de- 
nied; but that it could ever have been used for the purpose of 
giving shape to Aaron's idol, is utterly impossible. Its size 
would have been an objection ; and such is its shape that a 
liquid mass once poured into it and hardened, could never have 
been withdrawn. It seems to be simply a hollow place — a 
19 



324 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



softer portion of the rock, worn out bj the action of water ; and 
I do not suppose that even the most ignorant and superstitious 
monk really believes Aaron's calf ever had any connection 
with it. 

THE SMITTEN ROCK. 

"We next passed round into the valley, Leja, a deep ravine 
along the western base of Sinai. It is a wild, rocky gorge, ter- 
minating in a huge fissure in the mountain side, called Shouk 
Monsa, Cleft of Moses." Some distance up this ravine, about 
half an hour's walk, marked by 'No. 7 on the diagram, we were 
shown the Smitten Rock. 

Difierent visitors seem to have been differently impressed in 
their visits to this singular rock. Dr. Durbin makes the fol- 
lowing note of his visit to it : 

"From the accounts of previous travelers, and my settled conviction tliat th.e 
legend in regard to the rock was but a fable, I had made up my mind that there 
could be no interest excited about it. May I tell the reader, that notwithstanding 
my good stock of skepticism, this stone made more im]3ression upon me than any 
natural object claiming to attest a miracle ever did? Had any enlightened geolo- 
gist, utterly ignorant of the miracle of Moses, passed up the ravine and seen the 
rock as it now is, he could have declared — though the position of the stone and 
the present condition of the country around would have opposed any such im- 
pression — that strong and long continued fountains of water had once poured their 
gurgling currents from it and over it. He could not waver in his belief a moment, 
so natural and perfect were the indications. I examined it thoroughly, and if it be 
a forgery, I am satisfied, for my own part, that a greater than Michael Angelo de- 
signed and executed it. I cannot differ from Shaw's opinion, that ' neither art 
nor chance could by any means be concerned in the contrivance of these holes, 
which formed so many fountains.' The more I gazed upon the irregular, mouth- 
like caverns in the rock, the more I found my skepticism shaken ; and at last I 
could not help asking myself whether it was not a very natural solution of the 
matter, that this was indeed the rock which Moses struck, that from it the waters 
'gushed forth,' and poured their stream down Wady Leja to Wady es Sheik, and 
along it to Rephidim, where Israel was encamped, perishing with thirst?" 

Dr. Robinson says : 

" As to this rock, one is at a loss whether most to admire the credulity of the 
monks or the legendary and discrepant reports of travelers. It is hardly necessa- 
ry to remark that there is not the slightest ground for assuming any connection 
between this narrow valley and Rephidim; but, on the contrary, there is every 
thing against it. The rock itself is a large, isolated cube of coarse, red granite, 
which has fallen from the eastern mountain. Down its front, in an oblique line 



THE SMITTEN EOCK. 



325 



from top to bottom, runs a seam of a finer texture, from twelve to fifteen inches 
broad, having in it several irregular horizontal crevices, somewhat resembling the 
human mouth, one above another. These are said to be twelve in number, but I 
could make out only ten. The seam extends quite through the rock, and is visible 
on the opposite or back side ; where also are similar crevices, though not so large. 
The holes did not appear to us to be artificial, as is usually reported, although we 
examined them particularly. They belong rather to the nature of the seam ; yet 
it is possible some of them may have been enlarged by artificial means. The rock 
is a singular one, and, doubtless, was selected on account of this singularity as 
the scene of the miracle." 

Of this same rock Stanley speaks as the most famous of all 
the relics here found : 

" Slightly leaning forwards, a rude seam or scoop running over each side, inter- 
sected by wide slits or cracks, which might, by omitting or including those of less 
distinctness, be enlarged or diminished to any number between ten and twenty ; 
perhaps ten on each side would be the most correct account ; and the stone be- 
tween each of those cracks worn away as if by the dropping of water from the 
crack immediately above. Unlike as this isolated fragment is to the image usual- 
ly formed ' ' of the rock in Horeb, ' ' and incompatible as its situation is with any 
tenable theory of the event with which it professes to be connected, yet to uncul- 
tivated minds, regardless of general truth, and eager for minute coincidence, it 
was most natural that this rock should have suggested the miracle of Moses. 
There is every reason, accordingly, to believe that this is the oldest legendary local- 
ity in the district. It is probable that it was known even in the time of .Tosephus, 
who speaks of the rock as ' ' lying beside them ' ' — an expression naturally appli- 
cable to a fragment like this, but hardly to a cliff in the mountain. The situation 
and form of this stone would also have accommodated itself to the strange rab- 
binical belief that the " rock followed " them through the wilderness; a belief, 
groundless enough under any circumstances, but more natural if any Jewish pil- 
grims had seen or heard of this detached mass by the mountain side. It next ap- 
pears, or rather, perhaps, we would say, its first unquestionable appearance, is in 
the reference made more than once in the Koran to the rock with the twelve 
mouths for the twelve tribes of Israel, evidently alluding to the curious cracks in 
the stone, as now seen. These allusions probably increased, if they did not orig- 
inate, the reverence of the Bedawins, who, at least down to the present generation 
of travelers, are described as muttering their prayers before it, and thrusting grass 
into the supposed mouths of the stone. From the middle ages onwards, it has al- 
ways been shown to Christian pilgrims ; and the rude crosses on the sides, as well 
as the traces of stone chipped away, indicate the long reverence in which it has 
been held. In more modern times, it has been used to serve the two opposite 
purposes, of demonstrating on the one hand the truth of the Mosaic history, and 
on the other hand the lying practices of the monastic system. Bishop Clayton tri- 
umphantly quotes it as a voice from the desert, providentially preserved to put the 
infidels of the eighteenth century to shame. Sir Gardner Wilkinson as positively 
brings it forward to prove the deceptions practiced by the Greek Church to secure 



326 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



the respect of Arabs and tke visits of pilgrims. It is one of tlie many instances 
iu wMch both, arguments are equally wrong. It is evidently, like the other exam- 
ples given above, a trick of nature, which has originated a legend, and, through 
the legend, a sacred locality. Probably less would have been said of it, had more 
travelers observed what Sir Frederick Henniker alone has expressly noticed, name- 
ly, the fragment which lies in the same valley, less conspicuous, but with precise- 
ly similar marks. But, taking it merely for what it is, of all the lesser objects of 
interest in Sinai, the Rock of Moses is the most remarkable ; clothed with the 
longest train of associations, allied in thought, though not in fact, to the image 
which, of all others in the Exodus, has, perhaps, been most frequently repeated in 
the devotion of Jewish and Christian worship ; of all the objects in the desert 
most bound up with the simple faith of its wild inhabitants and of its early vis- 
itants." 

Dr. Shaw, who was here nearly one hundred and fifty years 
ago, speaks very seriously of this rock, and seems to take it for 
granted, that as ''neither art nor chance" could have produced 
the water-worn channels by which it is marked, they must have 
been produced by a miraculous fl.ow of water from its indenta- 
tions. Such contradictory opinions having been expressed 
with regard to this rock, my curiosity was highly excited, and 
I made a very critical examination of it. The water- worn seam 
that distinguishes it is certainly a Yevj singular one, and yet 
nothing but what might have been very naturally produced, 
had it ever lain in a position where a current of running water 
could have poured over it. That it is the result of the action 
of water, I think there can be no doubt. I have no idea any 
one has attempted to impose on the credulity of travelers, by 
originating or enlarging any of its crevices. It is a huge gran- 
ite bowlder, that at some distant period has fallen down from 
the overhanging cliffs. The lower part of it lies imbedded in 
the sand, gravel and stones that have accumulated about it. I 
applied my tape-line to it, and found the part above the ground 
to be about fifteen feet high, twenty feet long, and about ten 
feet thick. The front of it presented a flat surface, somewhat 
irregular, the top protruding over in the form of a heavy, ir- 
regular cornice. As you stand facing it, near the right hand 
side, and running up and down a little obliquely, is a seam in 
the rock evidently worn by the action of running water. This 
seam has also a number of transverse seams lying across it at 
right angles, and more deeply indented in the rock in the form 



THE SMITTEN KOCK. 



327 



of months, or rather the lips of a closed month. There are 
some of them from one to two inches deep. It is these mouths 
that Shaw and others speak of as the holes in the rock from 
which the water probably gushed out. But they evidently 
never served any such purpose. They are simply the result of 
the action of the elements that produced the upright seam op- 
erating upon a softer portion of the rock, wearing a deeper 
channel. 

Passing round to the backside of the rock, by the aid of some 
other bowlders lying near, I was able to climb upon the top of 
the rock. I found the same seam marking the top, and run- 
ning clear down the back side, but not so marked and deeply 
worn as on the front. The seam is from six to ten or twelve 
inches broad, of a whiter color than the other portions of the 
rock, and most of the way worn very slightly into it. That 
this portion of the rock has been subjected to the action of run- 
ning water cannot be denied. But when and where? Certain- 
ly not where it now lies, but probably before it was torn from 
its mountain bed. I think this seam to be a softer portion of 
the rock, that yielded more readily to the action of the elements. 
In confirmation of this, I found some portions of the top of the 
rock quite soft and crumblingj easily displaced, so that I broke 
off, without much difficulty, portions of it as large as the end 
of my finger. 

Was this the rock smitten by Moses? To this we might re- 
ply, in part, by asking another question : Was any rock smitten 
by Moses in this place? We think not, for the following 
reasons : 

1. There seems to have been no necessity for the production 
of water by miracle in- this vicinity ; for, as we have before 
stated, the best and most copious fountains of the whole penin- 
sula are found about this mountain ; and at the very time we 
visited this rock, a stream of fresh water was gurgling along 
down the valley by it. 

2. The rock smitten by Moses was in Eephidim, and before 
they came to Sinai. Where Eephidim was we may not now be 
able to tellj but the narrative plainly informs us that they 



328 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



moved from that place, and continued their journey before 
they encamped in front of the mount. 

3. If a rock had been opened for water to supply the en- 
campment, would it have been in such an out-of-the-way place 
as this, in a deep, narrow, rocky gorge, very difficult of access, 
and a mile or two from the nearest part of the camp ? 

4. When God works miracles, we always find it has been the 
order of his Providence to make no unnecessary display of Om- 
nipotent power, but to work by the simplest means ; generally 
producing the result by the operation of known and natural 
agencies. Had a rock been opened for the production of a flow 
of water, would it have been likely to have been an isolated 
one, where a perpetual miracle would be necessary — a contin- 
ued act of Creative Power to maintain a flowing fountain? 
Would it not be much more likely to have been the opening 
of some cleft in the mountain side, from which a copious stream 
might have been made to issue, poured forth from the inex- 
haustible fountain the Almighty has treasured in the bowels of 
the earth? 

5. There is nothing in the marks upon this rock necessarily 
leading us to the conclusion that they must have been produced 
by a miraculous flow of water. Indeed, the peculiar character 
of the seam proves the contrary. Its running across the top 
of the rock and down both sides, is conclusive it was worn by 
the action of water running over it, and not bursting out from 
it. It is not uncommon in rocky mountain regions to find frag- 
ments of rocks thus marked by seams and eddies that have 
been produced by the natural action of the elements. And if, 
as Stanley says, another rock has been seen in this same valley 
with similar seams, it may fairly be concluded that the two 
have been produced by the same natural causes. 

6. If it was necessary to work a miracle in this vicinity to 
bring water out of the flinty rock, why may we not conclude 
it was in some place easy of access, on the side of the moun- 
tain next to the great encampment — the place, for instance, 
just a few rods above where we pitched our own tents, where 
a copious fountain of pure, sweet water comes gushing from a 
cleft in the rocky base of the mountain in a stream sufficient to 



THE SMITTEN KOCK. 



329 



supply a city of many tliousands. As I stood by the side of 
that noble fountain, and looked upon the strange cleft where 
some superhuman power had rent the solid rock asunder to 
give the water egress, I found myself almost involuntarily ask- 
ing: "Did not that wonder-working rod of Moses have some- 
thing to do with this?" Why has not tradition located the 
scene of that stupendous miracle right here, where that strange 
and violent opening in these solid rocks, and the voice of those 
gushing waters speak of the power of Omnipotence? Why 
not locate it Aere, rather than upon that dry, isolated rock in 
the distant valley of the Leja? 

But perhaps I am devoting too much time to this " rock in 
Horeb." I have done it because I know many feel a deep inte- 
rest in the question, and are anxious to have all the information 
possible upon the subject. However much other travelers may 
have been impressed with the superstitious legend that has 
identified this with the rock smitten by Moses, I cannot for a 
moment entertain the idea. That a wonderful miracle was 
wrought in bringing water from the flinty rock, I have no doubt; 
but I cannot for a moment entertain the idea that this was the 
rock upon which God stood, and which Moses smote. The 
locality of that rock is lost and may never be known again ; it 
is not essential it should be, for it has fulfilled its mission. But 
it had a high and holy significance as the type of Him who was 
to come after, from whom should flow the living streams that 
should bless the world ! " They drank of that spiritual rock 
that followed them, and that EocK was CHRIST." I^ow, 
though we may never find the rock of the wilderness, the true 
rock stands revealed in the presence of the whole world, and 
we hear him saying : " If any man thirst, let him come unto me 
and drink." 

Our last day at Sinai is drawing to a close. We must return 
to our tent, and make ready for our departure early to-morrow 
morning. But as we have a little more time for contemplation, 
let us improve it by spending an evening hour in a walk over 
this great plain of Rahah. There are many interesting themes 
of contemplation suggested as one walks about these valleys, 
and looks upward to the mountain peaks ; a hundred questions 



330 



EGYPT Ai^ D SINAI. 



connected with, the wonderful events that have here transpired, 
occur to the inquhing mind. 

AN OBJECTION ANSWERED. 

It has been asserted by some objectors to the Divine record, 
that the sublime exhibitions upon the mount might have been 
a deception npon the part of Moses, by taking advantage of 
some natural agencies known only to himself — perhaps the oc- 
currence, just at that particular time, of some volcanic eruption 
and earthquake's shock. I hear from some the inquiry : "Did 
you see any evidence, in your visit upon the mount, of the 
action of such agencies." 

The question can be answered promptly and explicitly. 
Taking the whole character of Moses into the account, we 
have every reason to conclude he was not a man to practice de- 
ceptions in these sacred revelations, had there been an oppor- 
tunity to do so ; but there is no evidence that he could have 
called such agencies to his aid had he desired it. Had there 
ever been a volcano here, the traces of it would still be visible ; 
among these barren hills, where there is no accumulation of 
vegetation, the traces of it would not be obliterated till the 
end of time. There are here no extinct craters, no appear- 
ance of volcanic action, or of any eruption or violent commo- 
tion of nature since the first great upheaval of the granite 
ranges, which must, as every geologist will tell yon, have taken 
place many thonsands of years before Moses set foot npon the 
mountain's side, or Israel congregated at its base. There are," 
says Stanley, " at first sight, many appearances which, to our 
nnpracticed eye, seem indications of volcanic agency. But 
they, are all, it is believed, illusory. The vast heaps as of cal- 
cined mountains are only the detritus of iron in the sandstone 
formation. The traces of igneous action on the granite rocks 
belong to their first upheaving, not to any subsequent convul- 
sions. Every where there arc signs of the action of water, 
no where of fire." 

Walk with me now along this broad plain. We had a view 
of it as we stood npon that lofty peak, and contemplated the 
hosts of Israel upon the plain below, adoring and trembling at 



YOLCANIC AGENCY. 



331 



the awful display of Divine majesty and power. Let iis now 
look upward, and contemplate for a moment the cloud-covered 
mount, as God descended upon it. Six days the cloud covered 
those majestic peaks, and the glory of the Lord abode upon 
them, "and the sight of the glory of God was like a devouring 
fire upon the top of the mount." Of all the scenes man has 
ever been permitted to witness, none has equaled this in awful- 
ness and sublimity ; no other one has ever been attended by 
such amazing phenomena. 

And now, standing here, with the remembrance of all these 
strange exhibitions and revelations full in mind, it seems ap- 
propriate once more to call to mind that great leader and law- 
giver in Israel, 

THEMAN MOSES. 

Contemplate him as a general, reducing to order the undisci- 
plined mass of human beings with whom he had to deal, and 
marshaling his great army of six hundrejd thousand men ; or 
as a legislator, dictating and establishing a new code of laws; 
or as a religious teacher, instituting a new order of worship ; 
and we are compelled to acknowledge he was certainly a most 
wonderful man. We have seen him in Egypt, condemned to 
death from his very birth ; have stood by the waters of the Nile, 
that went rippling by the frail ark of rushes in which his life 
was exposed; have seen him nursed and educated under the 
shadow of the throne of the Pharaohs ; have looked upon him 
as he appeared at the renowned and powerful court of Memphis, 
overawing by the dignity and majesty of his presence the 
proudest and most renowned of eartbly monarchs, dictating 
terms of deliverance for his oppressed people. 

'Now in these secluded mountain retirements we meet him 
again. Standing on yonder commanding bights, amid clouds, 
darkness and tempest, in the awful presence of Divine majesty 
and glory, he holds audience with the King of kings. Con- 
template him as you will, the triple crown of warrior, legisla- 
tor and prophet is justly his; and though near four thousand 
years have passed away, the lapse of time has not diminished 
aught of the radiance tbat enshrouds him. 



332 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



We have stood by the side of the mighty pyramids his co- 
temporaries were engaged in rearing; they are gigantic piles, 
yet only monnments of human frailty, and tombs of human 
hopes. The superstructure he has reared is a far more endur- 
ing one. Its base is the immutable law of J ehovah, its sum- 
mit is lost in the glories of heaven. The founders of the pyra- 
mids built to immortalize their names, and make for themselves 
a tomb; Moses built to honor Grod and elevate man. He asked 
for no monumental tomb, and God buried him in the obscurity 
of the mountain recesses of E"ebo, and his sepulchre no man 
has ever known ; but his works are an everlasting monument, 
from which his name will never perish. 

But we must away to our tents. Another night's rest, and 
we shall bid a final adieu to these sacred localities. Sheik Me- 
daka is here with his camels, despite his protestations he would 
leave us to perish in the wilderness. He and the dragoman 
have been carrying on a fearful war of words, and the quarrel 
of the old tin pan has all been fought over. They seem to 
have come to no settlement to-night, and the sheik and his men 
have withdrawn in sullen mood and built their fire a little dis- 
tance from our camp. The contest will be renewed in the 
morning, but I have no doubt but he and his camels are to per- 
form the service. This terrible war of words seems to be an 
inseparable prelude to all their bargains. 

ROUTE BY AKABA AND PETRA. 

It was with reluctance we made preparations to retrace our 
steps to Suez and Cairo. We had not seen all we wished to 
see of Israel's route to the Holy Land. It had been our inten- 
tion. from the first, if possible, to continue our journey through 
the desert to Akaba, and thence by Mount Hor and Petra to 
Palestine; but this we found impracticable. The Arab tribes 
about Petra, always quarrelsome and inhospitable, and a great 
annoyance to travelers, have of late years become so engaged 
in hostile feuds among themselves, and so unfriendly and inso- 
lent to foreigners, it is dangerous for travelers to attempt to 
pass through their territory. While we were at Cairo, an En- 
glish gentleman of wealth, with a large retinue of camels and 



DESERT ROUTE TO HEBRON. 333 

servants, endeavored to negotiate some arrangement before- 
hand for passing through their territory, but could not succeed, 
and was compelled to abandon the enterprise. There is a 
shorter and more direct route by which the tourist can reach 
Hebron from Sinai, by striking directly across the desert, leav- 
ing Petra to the east ; but it is a long, tedious, desert route, and 
extremely difficult to get supplies, while there is nothing to be 
seen in its whole course of special interest, and the time occupied 
is about thirteen to fourteen days ; so that it is much preferable 
to return to Cairo, and reach the Holy Land by the way of the 
Mediterranean Sea and Jaffa. 

When the route by Akaba and Petra can be taken, you can 
leave the convent under the escort of the Tawara; two days' 
travel of nine hours each will bring you to Hazeroth, supposed 
to be the third station of the Israelites after leaving Sinai ; one 
day more to the shore of the Gulf of Akaba, the ancient Elath, 
where, near three thousand years ago, the fleets of Solomon 
sailed, bearing the gold of Ophir and the spices of India to the 
little kingdom of Israel. From this about two and a half days 
brings the traveler to the Castle of Akaba. Beyond this point 
the Tawara Arabs are not allowed to go, and the traveler is 
handed over to the Alawin, "an impudent and lawless set of 
vagabonds as ever a pilgrim had to deal with." A few years 
ago travelers had to bargain with old Sheik Hussein, long 
noted for his exorbitant extortions, and the little disposition he 
manifested to accommodate travelers after he had pocketed the 
backsheesh. His son, Mohammed, is more favorably spoken 
of by those who have had occasion to deal w^ith him. The dis- 
tance from Akaba to Petra is about three days' ride of nine 
hours each ; from Petra to Hebron, from five to six days, accord- 
ing to the route taken. The sums paid by different travelers 
at different times to Sheik Hussein are stated as follows : Kin- 
near and Roberts, for a party of three persons from Akaba to 
Hebron, for camels, escort, etc., two hundred and eighty pias- 
ters, and for each Arab forming the escort, two hundred and 
sixty piasters. Miss Martineau and party, each person to pay 
one thousand piasters for escort, and two hundred and fifty pi- 
asters over and above for every camel required. Mr. Bartlett, 



334 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



from Akaba to Petra, and thence back to Cairo, three thousand 
piasters, including every thing. The price, of course, varies 
materially, according to the acommodations furnished. In the 
above list of prices, I suppose it is understood the parties fur- 
nished their own servants, provisions, cook, tents, etc., except 
in the case of Mr. Bartlett. Dr. Robinson paid one hundred and 
thirty-five piasters for each camel from Akaba to Hebron. It 
was with Sheik Hussein Dr. Durbin and his party had to deal. 
The terms demanded were, for conveying the party of fi.ve from 
Akaba to Hebron, one hundred and sixty-eight dollars for the 
use of fourteen camels, and one hundred dollars for protection 
money for each person. The price of the camels was not objected 
to, but the payment of five hundred dollars tribute money was 
stoutly resisted, ending in a compromise, fixing it at two hun- 
dred and fifty dollars. In 1857, travelers began to encounter 
more than usual difiiculties in attempting to pass through this 
portion of the country. The Alawin were engaged in war 
with another tribe, Avhile the Fellaheen inhabiting the defiles 
of Wady Mousa — Valley of Moses — along the entrance to 
Petra,. manifested an insolence and rapacity far beyond all 
former experience. Since then the difficulties have increased, 
until now the way is entirely obstructed. 

It would be interesting to follow the pathway of the mysteri- 
ous cloud, and journey over the track of the Israehtes along 
their desert route, and see those portions of the country where, 
for near forty years, they wandered from place to place, till, 
punished for their idolatry and unbelief, God strangely led 
them into the Promised Land. The knowledge of the particu- 
lar localities where the prominent events in their history oc- 
curred has been lost ; but it was on this route that the rebellion 
of Korah^ Dathan and Abiram occurred, who, with their asso- 
ciates, met so signal and fearfal a doom ; on this route the bra- 
zen serpent, the type of Christ, was set up, the remedy for the 
deadly bite of the fiery serpents their murmurings and idola- 
tries had drawn upon them; on this route, too, it was that 
Aaron, the first consecrated high-priest, found his grave. 

Among the places in this desert land I had a desire to visit 
was one, access to which has ever been difficult; the place 



I 




DEATH OF AARON. 



337 



which Burckhardt found it so difficult to reach, and from which 
Robinson and his company, by the lawless sons of Ishmael, 
were rudely turned away without being allowed to explore. I 
had to content myself, as the reader must, by looking upon the 
picture of it, and reading the description given by another. 
This place was 

MOUNT HOR AND AARON'S TOMB. 

It is another of the places revered alike by Jew, Christian 
and Moslem. Stanley says : 

' ' It is one of tlie very few spots connected with the wanderings of the Israel- 
ites which admits of no reasonable doubt. There Aaron died in the presence of 
Moses and Eleazer ; there he was buried ; and there Eleazer was invested with the 
priesthood in his stead. The mountain is marked far and near by its double top, 
which rises like a huge castellated building from a lower base, and on one of these 
is the Mohammedan chapel, erected out of the remains of some earlier and more 
sumptuous building, over the supposed grave. There was nothing of interest 
within ; only the usual marks of Mussulman devotion, ragged shawls, ostrich 
eggs, and a few beads. These were in the upper chamber. The great high-priest, 
if his body be really there, rests in a subterraneous vault below, hewn out of the 
rock, and in a niche now cased over with stone, wood and plaster. From the flat 
roof of the chapel we overlooked his last view — that view which was to him 
what Pisgah was to his brother. To us the northern end was partly lost in haze ; 
but we saw all the main points on which his eye must have rested. He looked 
over the valley of the Arabah, countersected by its hundred water-courses, and 
beyond, over the white mountains of the wilderness they had so long traversed ; 
and at the northern edge of it, there must have been visible the hights through 
which the Israelites had vainly attempted to force their way into the Promised 
Land. This was the western view. Close around him on the east were the rug- 
ged mountains of Edom, and far along the horizon the wide downs of Mount Sier, 
through which the passage had been denied by the wild tribes of Esau, who 
hunted over their long slopes. A dreary moment, and a dreary scene — ^such, at 
any rate, it must have seemed to the aged priest." 

I say it was with regret I yielded to the necessity that barred 
the way to this mountain tomb. How much I should have 
enjoyed a visit to this spot where the great Hebrew high- 
priest laid aside his sacerdotal vestments, resigned the honors 
of his high position, and yielded to the stern mandate that 
closed his earthly mission. "And Moses stripped Aaron of 
his garments and put them upon Eleazer, his son; and Aaron 
died there in the top of the mount." ^^"um. xx. 28. ^Nfear 



338 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



this, also, is that now ruined and deserted but once populous 
and wonderful 

CITY OF PETRA. 

Here was Edom, the "bloody or red-earth." Here was 
Mount Seir, here, also, the inheritance of Esau, and here once 
lived the Horites, ''dwellers in caves," whom Esau and his de- 
scendants displaced. Here, as early as three hundred years 
before Christ, the isTabatheans became the conquerors and pos- 
sessors of the land. They were an Arab tribe, descended from 
Ishmael's eldest eon i^ebaioth. They became a numerous, 
powerful and commercial people, and were the artificers of the 
world-renowned monuments that are now the astonishment of 
all who visit the land. It is Petra and the monuments of its 
vicinity that, aside from Mount Hor, constitute the great at- 
traction that draws the curious traveler to the place, and would 
attract hundreds more, were it not for the obstacles thrown in 
the way by the lawless, plundering tribes that now infest the 
land. The gorgeous coloring of the rocky cliffs, with their 
ever varying hues of blue, purple and yellow, are spoken of as 
being inconceivably beautiful. In many places, these cliffs 
have been carved into beautiful sculptures of dwellings, tombs 
and temples. These tombs are not only cut with immense 
labor, but with exquisite taste and skill. Here are tombs story 
above story, and numerous labarynthine ramifications — tombs 
of Corinthian mold, of arched terraces, with Latin inscriptions 
and Sinaitic inscriptions. 

As you come upon the city, we are told that a single glance 
at the heaps of hewn stones, broken columns and mounds of 
rubbish that cover the whole valley, is sufficient to show that 
every available spot was once occupied by buildings. What is 
most singular is, that so many of the structures here, not of 
tombs merely, but of public buildings and dwellings, are hewn 
entire from the rocky cliffs that abound in the valley. The 
most remarkable one of all these is called "the Deir." This is 
a huge monolythic temple, hewn entire — Corinthian columns, 
entablatures, arches, stairways — with all its rooms and append- 
ages, cut from the solid rock of the mountain side — a massive 



i 



PROPHECY FULFILLED. 



343 



structure, the lower row of columns being seven feet in diame- 
ter and fifty feet high, even rivaling in point of magnificence 
those of the renowned temple of Balbeck ! 

But these things we were not permitted to see. Toward 
them, as we stood upon the mountain hights of Sinai, we cast 
long and earnest glances, but upon them we were compelled to 
turn our backs. They are among the ruins that stand as 
monumental records of the genius and enterprise of an extinct 
nation. They are a portion of the Handwriting that God has 
left in this wonderful land of his judgments and overruling 
Providence. What could be supposed to be more enduring 
than temples hewn from solid rock ? What people could have 
been more secure than those who were shut in and fortified 
amid these mountain ramparts ? And yet, as the traveler comes 
and wanders among these ruins, sits down amid their solitude 
and silence, and gazes upon their crumbling, moldering monu- 
ments, he reads, as if re-written by the finger of the Almighty, 
the declarations recorded by the prophets: ''Thorns shall 
come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses 
thereof .... When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make 
thee desolate .... Thou shalt be desolate, Mount Seir, 
and all Idumea, even all of it ... . Thus saith the Lord of 
Hosts, they shall build and I will throw down .... Thy ter- 
ribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, 
thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rocks, that boldest the hights 
of the hill ; though thou shouldst make thy nest as high as the 
eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord. 
Also, Edom shall be a desolation, every one that goeth by it shall 
he astonished.'^ Isa., Jer., Ezekiel. 

BREAKING UP OF THE CAMP. 

March 6th. Again the morning dawns upon us, but the 
night has added another to the interesting variety of incidents 
that has characterized our stay at the mount. This was the 
fall of a slight shower of rain, the first we have seen since we 
left Egypt. But little rain fell, scarce enough to wet the can- 
vas of our tent; but what to me was of particular interest, it 
was accompanied by one broad flash of lightning and a heavy 



344 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



clap of thunder. As the thunders woko the echoes of the 
mountain cliffs, and reverberated from peak to peak, how forci- 
bly it reminded us of those grand exhibitions of Divine power, 
that near four thousand years ago had been enacted on these 
very hights. Slender as our tent was, and poorly as we were pre- 
pared to endure a storm, I should have been sorry to miss this 
interesting little episode in our stay at the mount, by which we 
were carried back to the scene of the giving of the law, and 
reminded of the thunderings and the lightnings that there ac- 
companied the appearance of God in his majestic descent upon 
Sinai. 

Our dragoman called us at half-past 4 o'clock, that we might 
be ready for an early start. As we had supposed, our old sheik, 
Medaka, with his attendants, proceeded to pack our camp 
equipage upon the backs of his camels, though it was accom- 
panied by a wonderful war of words, and a great amount of 
wrangling and violent gesticulation. Quite a number of Arab 
men and boys gathered around to witness our departure, but 
they were all respectful, and there was no clamoring for back- 
sheesh. Children and women, during our stay, often made 
earnest solicitation for it ; one woman, in particular, threw back 
the folds of her dress, and exposing the head of her little squalid 
looking infant, laid her hand imploringly upon it, and begged 
for a few paras. 

JSTotwithstanding our vigorous efforts for an early start, it 
was near 8 o'clock before all was in readiness and our camp 
was in motion. 

FAREWELL TO SINAI. 

We had come in by the Yalley of E.ahah ; we took our de- 
parture by the Yalley es Sheik. We left our camels and 
walked on some distance down the valley. We looked back 
again and again, and gazed long and earnestly upon the tall 
peaks of Siuai, as they stood in towering grandeur, kindled by 
the glory of the morning sunlight. For near three miles down 
the valley the frowning summit of Horeb remained full in 
'v^iew, and we could not but think how from this valley, as well 
as from Kahah, the tented hosts of Israel must have witnessed 



DEPARTURE E R M SINAI. 



345 



the sublime descent of God upon that lofty peak. At last a 
bend in the valley brought the circling hills in a closer amphi- 
theatre about us. We turned, and gazed and gazed, as the 
mountain gradually vanished from our sight. It was with a 
feeling of regret we turned away, impressed with the thought 
that we should see it no more. 

Farewell, thou Mount of God ! Thy visitants come and go, 
and they may die and be forgotten, but thou remainest forever 
the same. The purple sunlight of autumn, and the kindling 
glories of spring bring no changes for thee. Thy towering 
crags expose their naked breasts to the blue sky, defying alike 
the wintry storm and the lightning's scathing blast. Thy sub- 
lime and monumental peaks stand enthroned amid perpetual 
silence and solitude. Thou hast no wooded dells; no green 
slopes; no perfume of flowers, or song of birds. Thine orna- 
ments are frowning cliffs, overhanging crags, and solitary 
glens. But thou hast an everlasting name, as thou art an ever- 
lasting monument. Hither have I traced the overruling provi- 
dence of God, guiding the pen of human genius and art in the 
, records of forgotten tombs and sculptured tablets. On thee I 
have seen the finger of God writing upon tables of stone his . 
own unchanging and everlasting law. O, Sinai, what lessons 
thou hast taught the human race ! What imposing architec- 
ture stamps thy majestic pile ! God's mighty cathedral — his pa- 
vilion of glory! Jehovah's presence thine unapproachable 
light, his rolling thunders the solemn anthem bell that sum- 
moned the audience ! Was it not for this purpose God reared 
thee on high, a mighty altar, from the deep foundations of the 
solid globe? The great drama completed, the law given, the 
new dispensation established — once sanctified by the presence 
of the Amighty — he has gathered around thee these barren 
hills, these wide wastes of desolate and gloomy sands, these 
lofty defenses of solitary mountains, and shut thee out from the 
busy world, for thou art never to be used again ! In thine own 
solitude and silence thou standest, an everlasting preacher — a 
perpetual memorial of God's revelation of himself to man ! 
Thanks for the lessons thou hast taught me. Mount of the 
living God, Farewell! Farewell! 
20 



346 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



CHAPTER XY. 

Return to Suez — Ancient Egyptian Ruins — Arrival at 
Cairo — Concluding Remarks. 

March 7th. A violent altercation took place this morning 
among onr camel drivers and the sheik, in which I observed 
the dragoman took no part. He afterwards informed us it was 
because there were more men and camels than were needed. 
One was to be dispensed with, and it was difficult to decide who 
should leave. It seems this business of transporting travelers 
is considered as belonging to the tribe, and, therefore, the labor 
is divided among as many as possible, and each one is anxious 
to share in the gains. One man proposed to leave, and the 
sheik offered to compromise with him by paying him one dol- 
lar and a quarter. With this he was not satisfied. He, how- 
ever, left; but how it was settled we did not learn. We re- 
gretted his leaving, for he had a milch camel, and having had 
a taste of the beverage in our tea and coffee, we had formed the 
purpose of sponging a little daily, from the baby camel for our 
own use. 

THE grave or THE SHEIK. 

Soon after starting this morning we passed another Bedawin 
burying-ground. It had no inclosure, and each grave was dis- 
tinguished by a heap of stones at the head, and another at the 
foot. It was a desolate, cheerless looking place, amid the pro- 
found solitude and silence of the naked desert; and yet I won- 
dered if there had not been shed upon those bleak, hard-fea- 
tured, formless graves as honest tears of genuine sorrow as 
any that ever fell amid the sculptured marble and blooming 
flowers of Laurel Hill or Mount Auburn. 



CLIMJ3ING A MOUNTAIlSr. 



347 



One grave attracted particular attention. It was distin- 
guished by a monument in the usual Moslem form, and over 
this had recently been placed a canopy of long, brown weeds, 
as a mark of special honor; upon these several different colored 
strings and sticks had been hung. This was "the grave of the 
Sheik" — the resting place of a holy man — and the earth that 
touched it became holy also. It was but a few steps from our 
road, and our sheik and drivers hastily ran up to it, snatched 
from it, each, a handful of earth, sprinkled it upon their own 
heads and rubbed it upon the heads of their camels. In taking 
the dust, each gathered a handful from another place and threw 
it back upon the grave, that the supply of holy earth might not 
be exhausted. 

March Sth. We encamped last night in "Wady Kemileh. 
Our first two days' ride had so wearied us we could scarcely 
sleep. The morning was clear, cool and invigorating, and we 
were soon ready for another day's ride. We had come this 
way to visit some interesting ruins upon the summit of a moun- 
tain called 

SURABIT EL KHADIM. 

We had talked with our dragoman several times about seeing 
this mountain, and understood we were traveling this way for 
that purpose. We knew that a diagonal road turned off from 
our main path, and by this detour the mountain was usually 
reached. "We rode on, expecting to be led to it, when we found 
we were likely to pass it, leaving it a mile or tv/o to our left. 
Suspecting something wrong, we inquired of our dragoman if 
we were not going to visit the mountain. He replied, "he did 
not know we wanted to go to it, he thought we only wanted to 
see it.'' This was an interpretation of language we had not an- 
ticipated, and to correct the blunder, or rather the deception — 
for I believe it was an artifice of his to save three or four hours' 
time — we were forced to make a direct turn from our road to 
the mountain. A half hours' ride, however, brought us to its 
base. The mountain is about seven hundred feet high, and one 
of our drivers acting as guide, we immediately commenced the 
ascent. 



348 



EGYPT AN^D SINAI. 



This we found a more difficult task than we had anticipated. 
It was near midday, and the sun's rays were reflected from the 
heated rocks with an intensity that, at times, ahuost sufibcated 
us. Our pathway lay along shelving, precipitous rocks, where 
we could scarce retain a foothold, sometimes with difficulty 
holding on with our hands; and this, too, in many places where 
a misstep would have been hazardous, not only to limb, but to 
life itself. The mountain is sandstone, and, in some places, has 
been much worn by the action of water into most singular and 
fantastic shapes. In several places, the face of the rocks looked 
like a net work of iron. 

After three-fourths of an hour's hard climbing, we found our- 
selves upon the summit. On searching for the ruins, they were 
no where to be seen. Looking across a deep ravine, we saw the 
scattered heaps upon an opposite peak. Our guide had made 
a mistake, and led us up the wrong ascent. It appeared but a 
short distance across to the ruins, but a deep valley intervened, 
and we had learned enough of the deception of these moun- 
tain passes not to trust our eyes. 

Down we went, clambering along the rocks — down, down, 
until at last we reached the bottom of the deep ravine, and 
again we commenced the ascent. This blunder of our guide 
was extremely provoking, and cost us much hard labor. At 
last, every thread of our under-clothes wet with perspiration, 
we reached the summit of the right peak. The top was a 
broad, oblong plain, containing one or two acres, 

THE RUINS 

Were more extensive and of more interest than we had an- 
ticipated. They are considered some of the most remarkable, 
as well as the most ancient, of any in the peninsula. Dr. Eob- 
iu son's description of them is so accurate, we have taken the 
liberty to copy from him : 

' ' They lie mostly within the compass of a small inclosure, one hundred and 
sixty feet long by seventy broad, marked by heaps of stone thrown or fallen to- 
gether, the remains, perhaps, of former walls, or rows of low buildings. Within 
this space are seen about fifteen upright stones, like tombstones, and several fallen 
ones, covered vdth Egyptian hieroglyphics ; and also the remains of a small tem- 
ple, whose columns are decorated with the head of Isis for a capital. At the east- 



EUINS IN THE DESEKT. 



349 



em end is a subterraneous chamber, excavated in the solid rock, resembling an 
Egyptian sepulchre. It is square ; and the roof is supported in the middle by a 
square column left from the rock. Both the column and tho side of the chamber 
are covered with hieroglyphics ; and in each of the sides is a small niche. The 
whole surface of the inclosure is covered with fallen columns, fragments of sculp- 
ture and hewn stones, strewn in every direction ; over which the pilgrim can, with 
difficulty, iind his way. Other similar upright stones stand without the inclosure 
in various directions, and even at some distance ; each surmounted by a heap of 
stones, which may have been thrown together by the Arabs. These upright stones, 
both within and without the inclosure, vary from about seven to ten feet in hight ; 
while they are from eighteen inches to two feet in breadth, and from fourteen to 
sixteen inches in thickness. They are rounded off on the top, forming an arch 
over the broadest sides. On one of these sides usually appears the common Egyp- 
tian symbol of the winged globe with two serpents, and one or more priests pre- 
senting offerings to the gods ; while various figures and cartouches cover the re- 
maining sides." 

ORIGIN OF THE RUINS. 

While such are the ruins that are now found upon this ele- 
vated out-of-the-way place, the question arises : ^' When, and 
by whom, were these structures built ? " They were not the 
work of Christians, or of the solitary anchorites, who, in the 
early ages of Christianity, made homes and sepulchres among 
these gloomy hills. They are evidently of Egyptian origin, 
and of a date long anterior to the Christian era. The tablets 
are covered with Egyptian heiroglyphics, some of them of a 
very ancient date. The names of several Egyptian kings are 
found on these stones ; among them Osirtasseen, 1740 years 
B. C; Thothmes III and lY; Eemeses the Great; Eemeses 
lY and Y; the latest one found being that of Eemeses YI. 
The place is supposed to have been a temple or sacred inclos- 
ure for worship, and that these sculptured tablets were erected 
in honor of the successive sovereigns of Egypt, according to 
their succession. 

But the question again arises : " Why were they built, and 
for what purpose were the people that built them here?" The 
solution of this is found in the supposed existence of copper 
mines in this immediate vicinity. We have before spoken of 
such mines in Wady Magarah, and of the inscriptions left 
there by the ancient workmen. The mines in this vicinity are 
not now known, but the evidences of such mines having been 



350 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



worked still remain. Lepsius tells us that he observed in the 
vicinity of these ruins great slag hills of a dark color, with 
traces of ancient roads leading into the neighboring mountains. 
These, show that extensive copper mines existed somewhere 
near, and that this was a place chosen for smelting operations, 
l^ot far from this, to the westward, he also found some places 
formerly used for smelting purposes. 

From these statements, it appears that as early or before the 
time of the Exodus, men of science and art, probably from 
Egypt, had penetrated among these hills, and opened the 
bowels of the earth for their hidden treasures. Here miners 
lived and toiled — here built their temples and worshiped their 
deities. It is supposed these mines were finally abandoned as 
early as 1170 years before Christ. 

Our excursion upon these mountains, added to a long day's 
ride, was very fatiguing ; we welcomed the return of night, and 
the cot bed of the desert seemed to us softer than the eider 
down of a kingly palace. In this sterile desert, one seldom 
meets with any thing that has life, but to-day we saw two 
quails, much like our American quails, except that the color 
was more like the sands amon*^- which they lived. 

March 10. Some trouble and delay were occasioned in the 
camp this morning. One of our dromedaries took it into his 
head during the night to escape from servitude. He was no 
where to be found, and it was clear he had run away. One of 
the pack camels had to be substituted, and his load apportioned 
among the rest, while one of the drivers was dispatched to 
search for the fugitive. 

Soon after starting, we met a caravan of nearly one hundred 
camels. They were divided into squads of eighteen to twenty- 
five each, with several drivers for each company. They had 
been to Suez or Cairo for supplies for the Arabs in the southern 
part of the peninsula, and were mostly loaded with grain. 

A GRAVE OF A HORSE. 

About half way between Wady Useit and Ghurundel, we 
passed a cairn, or pile of stones and dirt, said to be the grave of 
the horse of Abou Zennab — his horse killed in battle. All 



SINGULAR CUSTOMS. 



351 



concerning him seems to have passed from the memory of the 
Arabs, except that he left a request, or command, that every 
one that passed should throw a stone or some sand on the pile, 
and say : " Eat, horse of Abou Zennah ! " 

Just before reaching this, we passed another pile of stones 
in a little hollow by the roadside, upon which one or two of 
our drivers cast a stone. I inquired what it meant, but none 
of them could give any account of it, except the Arabs throw 
stones on the pile, and say : ^' Arise, man ! " 

Soon after leaving the pile that perpetuates the memory of 
the horse, we came to another similar pile of stones by the road- 
side, which our dragoman said was the grave of a guilty couple, 
convicted of a violation of the laws of chastity. They were 
slain, and buried here, and the Arabs throw stones upon the 
grave, and thus heap reproach upon the memory of the guilty 
parties. 

As we rode on we ascended an eminence, and caught a view 
of the Red Sea. It was an animating sight, and we hailed it 
with joy, as indicative of our near approach to a land of civil- 
ization. About 12 o'clock we came again to the supposed 
place of Israel's encampment by the fountains and the palm 
trees of Elim. Here we stopped to take our noon-day lunch, 
and here we were initiated, by one of our attendants, into the 
Arab method of 

MAKING BREAD. 

The process is a very expeditious and simple one. A few 
small sticks of brush and dry roots were collected, a small space 
leveled upon the sand, and the fire kindled. While the sticks 
were being reduced to coals, a few handfuls of flour were put 
into a small wooded bowl that answered the purpose of a 
kneading trough, a little salt thrown in and sufficient water to 
wet it. The whole was thoroughly mixed with the hands. 
The ball of dough was then laid upon a cloth and patted out 
with the hands into a thin cake, looking much like a 'New 
England short-cake. By the time the dough was kneaded the 
fire was ready ; the coals were raked aside with a stick ; the 
cake, by the aid of both hands beneath it, carefully laid upon 



352 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



the hot sand, and the coals and ashes raked over it. Here it 
was allowed to lie six or seven minutes. The fire was then 
raked ofl, the cake turned, and the coals and hot ashes again 
covered over it. In about twelve minutes after it was put into 
the fire, it came out full baked. The ashes and sand were 
shaken and brushed ofi*, and it was laid before us as a part of 
our lunch. We were surprised at the facility with which the 
work was done, the whole process occupying but little more 
than a quarter of an hour. 

This bread came out of the ashes not only astonishingly 
clean, but the flavor was unusually sweet. We not only ate it 
with a relish, but after having lived so long on dry brown 
bread, we wished for more. This simple process of making 
bread, we suppose was an illustration of the manner in which 
old Abraham baked his bread on the plains of Mamre, four 
thousand years ago, when he entertained the angels. We also 
thought we had learned the use and necessity of the kneading 
troughs of the Israelites, which they carried with them when 
they went out of Egypt. This was the way they baked their 
bread in the wilderness, and this is the way the Arab tribes 
have baked it ever since. 

During the afternoon we passed the fountain of Marah, with 
its bitter water, and a few miles beyond it, encamped for the 
night. Toward morning, the man who went in search of the 
runaway camel came in, bringing the deserter with him. A 
simple breakfast of ham and eggs was dispatched, and again 
we were on our way, anxious to escape from this dreary wilder- 
ness. Towards night the wind increased, and the sands came 
driving like snow across the open plain; we were under the 
necessity of covering our eyes, and the camels seemed to be 
nearly blinded by it. The whole air was thick and dark, and 
we could see but a few rods in any direction. The night came 
on cold and dreary. We could find no shelter of bush, bank 
or hill, behind which to pitch our tent. About 5 o'clock we 
camped on the open plain, the wind driving up furiously from 
the direction of the sea. For sometime I feared the men 
would not be able to make our tent stand. At last, by the help 
of extra ropes, it was made fast, and poor as the shelter was, 



LAST DAY IN THE DESEET. 



353 



we were glad to take refuge in it from the driviog storm of 
sand. 

The cook contrived to kindle his charcoal hre, and from the 
remnant of our stock of chickens prepared us a comfortable 
supper, which we ate with a hearty relish, though well pep- 
pered with the drifting sand. One can scarcely conceive a 
more dreary and cheerless condition than a camp at such a time 
and in such a place — the sands drifting about you, and the folds 
of your little cloth tenement flapping and snapping in the 
wind, the frail ropes strained to their utmost tension, liable 
every moment to snap asunder, and leave all to the mercy 
of the tempest. But it is our last night in the desert. A half- 
day's ride will bring us to Suez. Cheered with the thought 
that we were so near our journey's end, we lay down to rest, 
and despite the cheerlessness of our condition, were soon enjoy- 
ing a profound slumber. 

ARRIVAL AT SUEZ. 

March 12th. The wind this morning has considerably abated. 
It is the last day of our camel riding. At 10 o'clock, Moses' 
Wells appeared in sight on a distant elevation, about one hour 
ahead of us, and far beyond Suez was in full view, looking pre- 
cisely like a great clump of trees on the sea-shore, though there 
is not a tree in the place. Hail, cheerful sight! 

At 1 o'clock we reached the landing opposite Suez, sent our 
camels and baggage round the head of the gulf, and signaled 
for a boat to come and again ferry us over the waters that, in 
ancient times, divided their yielding waves to make a highway 
for the ransomed people of God. "While waiting, we took the 
opportunity of refreshing ourselves after our long and dusty 
ride by an invigorating bath in the waters of the sea; and if, 
after your long and intimate association with camels and Beda- 
win, old saddles and old blankets, you find a few stray denizens 
of the camp have taken up their residence in your apparel, 
don't be alarmed. A few changes of clean linen will set things 
all to rights. A remnant of one of the great plagues of the 
Exodus still cleaves to Egypt and the desert, sometimes to the 
great annoyance of the traveler. 



354 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



The waters were passed. It being low tide, our boat could 
not reach the landing, and we were carried on shore, sitting 
astride the shoulders of an Arab boatman, holding on with 
both hands clasped about his forehead. The first thing I did, 
was to hasten to the reading-room of the European hotel, in 
search of home news. I found London papers of February 
24th, containing a summary of American news to February 
13th. Though just one month old, it was all news to me, and 
I devoured it with the eagerness a famishing man would his 
meal. 

ADIEU TO ARABS AND CAMELS. 

March ISth. Our tent life in the desert is over. Thanks to 
modern art and enterprise, Cairo, instead of three day's weary 
camel ride across the desert, can now be reached by railroad in 
a few hours. We took leave this morning of our camel drivers 
and sheik, we to visit other lands and other bible scenes; they 
to return to their solitary desert homes. Dreary and forbidding 
it indeed seemed to us ; but to its scanty fare and cheerless sands 
they were born and bred, and there, in comparative content- 
ment, they live. 

The sheik pressed his claim quite importunately for a back- 
sheesh, but our bargain with our dragoman had been so ex- 
plicit, we determined not to depart from it. Believing we had 
paid our dragoman sufiicient to allow him to fully compensate 
his employees, to him we referred our desert guide. In all our 
intercourse with him and his men, we found them kind and 
obliging ; would that we could command a richer blessing on 
them than the Prophet has power to give — the blessing of that 
Savior whose knowledge maketh rich. Among the remem- 
brances of our visit to the Mount of God, the erect form, pleas- 
ant countenance, and kindly greetings of Sheik Medaka will 
hold a conspicuous place. 

RIDE TO CAIRO. 

At half-past 3 o'clock our train was in motion — Suez and the 
sea faded away behind us — the desert, like a mighty ocean, 
once more closed around us. Again we hailed with joy the 



COMFOETS OF A HOTEL. 



355 



cheerful sight of the green valley of the Kile, the walls, mina- 
rets and citadel of Grand Cairo ! Again, the doors of the Eu- 
ropean hotel opened for our reception, and we were among En- 
glish and American friends. That night, as I laid my head 
once more upon a pillow in a good hed, and in a comfortable 
room, after having slept seventeen nights in a tent, and endured 
the toil and fatigue of desert life, the incense of gratitude went 
up from my heart to Almighty God, whose protecting care I 
had enjoyed, and by whose kind Providence I had been granted 
a safe return. 

CONCLUSION. 

Our stay in this land of antiquities is about to close. How 
many places of interest we have been allowed to visit! How 
many lessons we have learned ! We have seen Egypt and Si- 
nai ; have stood amid the moldering ruins of the one, and the 
stern grandeur and impressive sublimity of the other. We 
have walked over the land of Israel's bondage, gazed upon the 
sea that opened its waters for their deliverance ; traversed the 
desert in which God sustained them, and climbed the mount 
that trembled at his presence ! We have ascended the pyra- 
mids, and felt the vanity of human greatness, and the uncer- 
tainty of human hopes. The Sphinx has preached to us; the 
fallen statue of Remeses has been our instructor; we have 
walked over the ruins of On and IToph, and strange voices have 
we heard amid their desolate solitudes ! Ancient tablets have 
spoken to us, and tombs have been eloquent with sermons and 
lectures. We have read the Handwriting of God and seen the 
traces of the foot-prints of Deity ! 

Truly, this land is one of God's great historic books. Here he 
has written lessons for all coming posterity, and page after page 
is now being unfolded and read. Their dead men speak, and 
stones come up and testify. A signet ring from the vault of 
an ancient tomb, the inscription upon which centuries of decay 
have not been able to deface, fixes the reign of a king, and de- 
termines the date of an important event. Bricks of unburnt 
clay, torn up from some long buried ruins, speak of Israel's 
bondage and labor. A planetary configuration upon the crum- 



356 EGYPT AJ^D SINAI. 

bling walls of some ruined palace or temple, fixes an important 
era in chronology. Household implements, workmen's utensils, 
articles of apparel and ornaments, remnants of idols, broken 
altars and paraphernalia of worship, preserved in tombs and 
sarcophagi, and recovered from the long buried ruins of cities, 
tell us how four thousand years ago men lived, thought, felt, 
labored and worshiped. Here we are taken back to the infancy 
of history — to the days of Abraham's journeyings, Israel's 
bondage, and Moses' mission. 'We learn how he was selected 
by the Almighty to transmit to posterity the ancient history 
of the world. "We learn that as early as seven hundred years 
after the fiood, and but little more than two hundred after 
ISToah's death, here was a people ruled by a king, with laws, lit- 
erature and religion. We see how Manetho and the Egyptian 
monuments unite to substantiate the truth of what Moses has 
written, and how recent developments are settling chronolog- 
ical dates and historic facts with astonishing precision. Sure- 
ly, the hand of the Lord is in all these things. He who formed 
the earth and the world, though vailed in clouded majesty, has 
been present. Omnipotent in power, Infinite in wisdom, direct- 
ing: and overrulins: all ! 

Our travels are not yet ended. We have now a journey to 
make to 

THE HOLY LAND. 

We are to go through the Land of Promise — of Israel's in- 
heritance and Israel's rest — the land of Patriarchs, Prophets 
and Apostles— the land of the Savior's nativity, of his mighty 
works, his wonderful death, and his glorious resurrection and 
ascension I The results of this visit wih be embodied in another 
book. May the journey be as full of interest and instruction 
as the one just closed has been. ]May the Lord give us eyes to 
see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand the lessons of in- 
struction that will, meet us at every step of our way. So for 
the present, 

ADIEU. 



INDEX. 



EGYPT AND SINAI. 



Aaron's Calf, mold of 323 

TomK. 337 

Acacia, see Shittim Wood 213 

Ain Hawarah , 232 

Akaba, route by 332 

Alexandria, City of. 59 

Dress and habits of the 

people 76 

Fight in 72 

Yiew of. 43 

Apis Cemetery 124 

The bull 184 

Arabs, bargains with 127 

Desert customs 248 

Making bread 351 

Song at Pyramids 130 

Supper 240 

Backsheesh 114 

Bargain with dragoman. 215 

Bazars, Cairo 97 

Bedawin burying-ground 265 

Common dress 247 

Robbers 269 

Bedawins 244 

Marriage customs 249 

Boston, arrival at 13 

Bottle-boy at Pyramids 132 

Bread-making 351 

Burning Bush, Chapel of 298 

Burying-ground 265 

Cairo, arrival at 93 

Mosques of 197 

Old 117 

Streets of...... 97 

Camel's foot-print, Sinai 317 

Loading 226 

Carriage riding in Cairo 194 

Catacombs 68 

Chapel of the Fleas 314 

Elijah and Elisha 315 

Charnel House, Sinai 300 

Cheops, Pyramids of 124 

Ascent of 129 

Interior of 135 

Chicken ovens 120 



Children, Egyptian 208 

Mode of carrying 77 

Church of St. John, Malta 38 

Transfiguration, Sinai.... 297 

Circumcision 107 

Citadel at Cairo 201 

Cleopatra's Needles 66 

Convent, St. Catharine, Sinai.. 286, 297 

History of 290 

Interior of. ., 295 

Greek, Cairo 217 

Copper mines, ancient 253, 349 

Costumes, gentleman's dress 99 

Variety of. 98 

Cummmings, Dr 27 

Custom House, Alexandria 46 

Liverpool 20 

Derweshees 211 

Desert, appearance of 237, 243 

Vegetation of..,. 236 

Dieppe, France 29 

Donkey -boys 64, 116, 153 

Biding 63 

Donkeys 62 

Dress of laboring class 210 

Egypt, climate of 96 

History of. 49 

Map of 10 

Population of. 81 

Egyptians, mechanical power of.... 179 

Elim 235 

Encampment by the Sea 250 

Ezbekieh, Cairo 96 

Ferian, Oasis of. 270 

Wady of. 266 

Finances for journey 23 

Forest, petrified .". 162 

France 34 

Funeral, Obsequies, ancient 186 

Procession Ill 

Garden of Convent 299 

Gizeh 121 

Pyramids of 125 



358 



INDEX. 



Grave of a horse 350 

Harem, Alexandria 72 

Helena 291 

Henna staining 168 

Hermits in Sinai desert 271 

Hieroglyphics 255 

History, preservation of 56 

Holy Land 356 

Hor, Mountain of 336 

Horeb, ascent of. 320 

Plan of 304 

Hotel, de Louvre, Paris 30 

European, Alexandria 47 

Hyssop 275 

Ibis Mummy Pits 124 

Inscriptions, Sinaitic 255 

Israelites, bondage of. 87 

At Ked Sea 230 

Joseph and his brethren 187 

Home of 159 

"Well of. 202 

Lake of the Dead 185 

Library, Alexandria 60 

Liverpool, landing at 21 

London, description of. 22 

To Paris 29 

Malta 37 

Maltese divers 39 

Mamalukes, origin of. 53 

Tombs of 163 

Destruction of. 204 

Manna plant 276 

Perpetual miracle 280 

Its spiritual significance 281 

Marriage custom 248 

Procession 106 

Marseilles 35 

Marah, bitter waters of, 232 

Sweetning the waters 234 

Memphis , 176 

History of. 177 

Miracle, perpetual one 280 

Missionaries at Cairo. 172 

Mohaipmed Ali 54 

Great canal 75 

Moses at the Mount of God 331 

His infancy 120 

Life in Egypt 189 

Keturn to Egypt 190 

Wells of 230 

Well at Sinai..... 296 

Mosques of Omer and Tayloon 198 

Mosque of Mohammed Ali 203 

At Sinai convent 299 

Of Sultan Hassan 200 

Mount Hor 337 

Sinai, see Sinai 

Mountains, color and form of. 272 



PAGE. 

Moving masses of stone.. 179 

Muezzein call to prayer 74 

Murkah, Plain of 251 

Napoleon, campaign of. 54 

Nile, description of 90, 119 

The ferriage 119 

Voyage 212 

Noph, ancient 176 

Nubk Howey, Windy Pass 282 

Obelisk, Heliopolis 156 

In Paris 82 

On, City of. 156 

Home of Joseph 159 

School of Moses 160 

Palm Grove, beauty of. 175 

Paris and Champs Ely sees 31, 32 

Paris, Sunday in 82 

Paul's shipwreck 40 

Peninsula of Sinai, inhabitants of... 244 

Petra, route by 333 

Kuins of 338 

View of 342 

Petrified forest 162 

Pharaoh, ruined city of... 174 

Baths of. 237 

Destruction of 224 

Palace of 187 

Pharos 45 

Place de la Concorde 33 

Plain of Murkah 251 

Pompey's Pillar 65 

Prophecy, fulfilment of 59, 160 

Pyramids, age of. 139 

By whom opened 146 

Cheops. Gizeh 124, 125 

Interior of 136 

First view of 93 

Why built 145 

Eailroad to Cairo 74 

Cairo to Suez 218 

Ked Sea, encampment by 250 

Israelites crossing 228 

Eeflections at Memphis , 192 

Pyramids 131 

Eemeses, great statue of 178 

Retem, wild broom 274 

Rosetta stone 58 

Sarcophagus at Pyramid 142 

Scripture, illustration of 91 

Selling milk, Malta 89 

Serapis, Temple of 60 

Shadoof. , 166 

Sheik, description of 246, 281 

Grave of. 346 

Home of 282 

Quarrel with 302 

Shittim wood 273 

Shoobra, Palace of. 161 



IND 



EX. 



359 



PAGE. 



Sinai, arrival at 283 

Ascent upon the Mount 313 

Boundaries about 310 

Convent of 290 

Descent from 318 

Design of Israel's visit 308 

Encampment of the Israelites 309 

Encampment at 285 

Farewell to , 344 

Picture of. 288 

Plan of. 304 

Preparations for a visit to... 214 

Summit of 317 

Volcanic phenomena 331 

Sinaitic inscriptions 255 

Where found.. 258 
Peculiarities of 258 
Origin and his- 
tory of. 261 

Slave market 102 

Smitten Eock 324 

Description of 326 

Smoking in Egypt 82 

Snakes, exhibition of. 112 

Sphinx, description of 147 

A preacher 150 

Spurgeon, Eev. C. H 25 

St. Catharine 297 

Stone, moving blocks of 179 

Storm at Sea 18 

Strange show 112 

Street cries, Cairo 168 

Suez 219 

Return to 353 

Sun, City of. 156 

Fountain of 158 



PAQE. 



Sun, Temple of. 157 

Surabit el Khadim 347 

Ruins of 348 

Tawaras 244 

Tattooing 168 

Tombs about Pyramids 152 

Transfiguration, church of 297 

Turban 81 

Tusset Sudhr, mountain 231 

Valetta 38 

Valley of the Cave 253 

Viceroy's Palace, Alexandria 70 

Villages of Egypt 76 

Wady Ghurundel, Elim 235 

IJseit 238 

Taiyibeh 250 

Shellal 251 

Maghara..., 253 

Feiran 266 

Christians in 271 

Water in the desert 241 

Watering land 164 

Wild broom 274 

Windy Pass 282 

Women, dress of. 79 

On camels 166 

Riding 103 

Tattooed 170 

Veil of 83 

Written Valley 254 

Zoan, field of 84 



/ 



THE 



HANDWRITING OF GOD 



EGYPT, SINAI, 



AND THE 



HOLY LAND 



THE 



RECORDS OF A JOURNEY FROM THE GREAT VALLEY OF THE WEST 
TO THE SACRED PLACES OF THE EAST. 

BY EEY. jyf Af KAl^DALL. 



MAPS, DIAGRAMS, AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. 



lllnuicrfic t0 ti)t ^antmitms of ©oii, anii all objects are tuorbs tn it.* 



COLUMBUS, OHIO: 
RAi^DALL AE"D ASTOIsr. 
SHELDON & CO., NEW YORK. 
1862. 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1862, 

By D. a. RANDALL, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States 
FOR THE Southern District of Ohio. 



OSGOOD & PEARCE, 

PRINTERS. 



TO MY CHURCH, 

TO WHOSE SYMPATHY, ENCOURAGEMENT AND PRAYERS, I AM DEEPLY INDEBTED : 

TO MY SUNDAY-SCHOOL, 

WHOSE KIND REMEMBRANCES DURING MY JOURNEY, AND WELCOME GREETINGS ON 
MY RETURN, HAVE BEEN LIKE SUNLIGHT UPON MY HEART : 

TO MY FAMILY, 

FOR THEIR PROMPT AND CHEERFUL AID IN MY TRAVELS AND LABORS: 

AND TO MY NUMEROUS FRIENDS, 

FOR THEIR ACTS OF KINDNESS AND WORDS OF CHEEE, 

THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, 

WITH THE HOPE THAT THEY MAY ALL ENJOY AS MUCH IN THE READING, 
AS THE AUTHOR HAS IN COLLECTING AND PREPARING 
THE CONTENTS OF IT, 



I 



I T R D U C T I . 



The reasons for writing this book have been given in the 
previous work on Egypt and Sinai. The purpose at first was 
to publish but one vokime, but in the preparation of the work 
it was found necessary to extend it far beyond the original 
design. 

The author was also in hopes to have included in the work 
the narrative of his tour through Europe, but, as the work pro- 
gressed, it was found impracticable to do so, as it would either 
too much extend the size, or crowd out the notice of many in- 
teresting things in the Holy Land which it seemed important 
to mention. 

In consideration of the size of the work, it has been deemed 
advisable to divide it into two parts, one on Egypt and Sinai, 
the other on the Holy Land. The paging and indexing have 
been made to correspond to this arrangement, so that the two 
parts can be put up separately or together, as patrons may wish. 
Should it yet be deemed advisable, a supplemental volume will 
be added of the return home through Europe. 

We repeat here what we said in the introduction to the first 
part of the work, that the book is not designed for the critic 
and the scholar, but for the mass of common readers. The 
portion of country through which it takes the reader is, to the 
Christian, one of the most interesting in the world; and the 
book is given to the public with the same desire that accompa- 
nied its predecessor, that it may be read with profit, and prove 
a useful auxiliary in the increase of knowledge and the estab- 
lishment of truth. 



THE HOLY LAND. 



" Those holy fields, 
Over whose acres walked those blessed feet, 
Which, fourteen hundred years ago, were nailed, 
For our advantage on the bitter cross." 

King Henry, IY. 

" Thy holy cities are a wilderness, 
Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation, 
Our holy and our beautiful house, 
Where our fathers praised thee. 
Is burned up with fire ; 
And all our pleasant things are laid waste." 

Bible. 



THE HOLY LAND, 



CHAPTER I. 

Departure from Egypt — Voyage from Alexandria to Jaffa — 
Ride from Jaffa to Jerusalem. 

Cairo, Egypt, March 15, 1861. 

In our work on Egypt and Sinai, we have taken the reader 
to some of the most interesting locaUties of Lower Egypt; 
have looked upon its remaining monuments, and reflected 
among its ruins. We have also taken him through the dreary 
desert of Sinai, and stood with him amid the sublime scenery 
of the Mount of the Law. These rambles have been full of in- 
terest, and many an instructive voice have we heard, impressing 
upon us lessons not soon to be forgotten. We are now to re- 
sume our travels, and make the tour of the Holy Land. The 
Holy Land! How the heart beats high with expectation at the 
very thought! A land dear to the Jew^ and the very mention 
of which kindles the devout emotions of every Christian heart ! 

As I have before stated, I met in this place two American 
gentlemen, with whom I made arrangements to make the tour 
of Palestine with me. Our preparations were soon completed, 
and on the 15th of March we bade adieu to Grand Cairo. A 
ride of one hundred and thirty miles on the Viceroy's fine 
railroad brought us to Alexandria. This journey can be made 
for about nine dollars and a half, five dollars or two dollars, ac- 
cording to the class of cars selected. Time, about six hours. 

Saturday was spent mostly in business arrangements prepar- 
atory to our departure. In getting drafts on London cashed 
here, in British or French gold, we found the rate of exchange 
and commission about four per cent, against us. In Cairo, it 
was about the same. We called on the American Consul and 



10 



THE HOLY LAND. 



had our passport recognized, though, a vise for Syria is not ne- 
cessary here, if one has been procured in England or France — 
Egypt and Syria being under the same government. Our con- 
sul here assured us it was necessary, and took from us a fee for 
doing it, but we found no use for it. Our passports were not 
called for in any port or city in Syria ; and after leaving Alex- 
andria, we had no call for them by any government official till 
we reached Smyrna, in Turkey. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL IN ALEXANDRIA. 

In the evening we called upon the American Missionaries 
of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. The mission 
is in charge of a Rev. Mr. Hoge and his lady, of Scotland. A 
Miss Dale, of Philadelphia, and a Miss McCullouch, of Ohio, 
are assistants. We had an interesting interview with them, 
and on Sabbath morning accompanied them to their Sabbath 
school. 

After wending our way through many of the narrow lanes of 
the city, and in the thickest portions of it, we were taken to 
one of those strange looking eastern houses, which I cannot de- 
scribe, and up two pairs of stairs to the school room. Here we 
found about fifty children, a large proportion of them girls, 
neatly clad, looking sprightly and intelligent, listening with 
apparent interest to the instruction given. They were all 
shades of color, and the representatives of several different na- 
tions — native Egyptians, Copts, Jews, Italians, French, Syrians, 
Maltese, etc. Some of them, the teacher informed me, could 
speak several different languages, and some of them could 
write the Lord's prayer in four different languages. I was 
much interested in two Syrian young ladies, assistant teachers, 
from Damascus. They had lost their mother by death, and 
their father was killed in the recent massacre of the Christians 
in Syria. They were accompanied by two little brothers, who, 
with them, had escaped, and had been driven to this place for 
protection. Their story was a sad one, and touched the sympa- 
thies of my heart, but I rejoiced in the thought that in Jesus 
they had found a friend dearer than any earthly one, and in 
God a father, who has given his special pledge to provide for 



BEIBING AN OFFICE K. 



11 



the orphan. The school appears to be in a prosperous condi- 
tion, and, I should think, was sowing seed that will ripen into a 
future blessed harvest. They sang our common Sabbath 
school tunes, set to Arabic words. The language I could not 
understand, but I could sing with them in spirit, and my 
thoughts were carried back to my own school, and the interest- 
ing scenes of a Sabbath morning in my own native land were 
vividly before my mind. 

ALEXANDRIA TO JAFFA. 

Monday morning, 10 o'clock, found us on board the Russian 
steamer Pallas, in the port of Alexandria, bound for Jafta, the 
nearest landing place in the Holy Land, the distance about two 
hundred and fifty miles, the time of the voyage usually from 
thirty to thirty-six hours. We had on board a motley crew of 
divers nations, professions and languages. There was not one 
of the officers or crew with whom I could talk. Fortunately, 
one of my traveling companions could master a little Italian, 
and the steward of our cabin could answer to it, so we had no 
difficulty in making our wants known. 

In getting on board we had the usual gauntlet to run of don- 
key boys, boatmen and loungers. Our boat engaged, we 
handed in our traveling bags, and were about to step from the 
wharf, when a tolerably well-dressed man, with loose trousers 
and turban, and a staff of honor in his hand, stopped us, and 
claiming to be an officer of the customs, intimated that our lug- 
gage should be examined. We did not believe he had any au- 
thority to interfere with us, but supposed it to be some menial 
of the police after a backsheesh. We peremptorily told the 
boatment to push off. He hesitated, as if afraid to comply, and 
replied : O, gib him sumftin." 'Not knowing how cheaply 
the official could be bought, but disposed to try, I handed him 
an English sixpence for our company of three. He seemed 
disposed to protest, but I turned my eye upon him with a look 
in which he read an emphatic "that's all.'' He turned his 
back upon us, and we proceeded without further molestation, 
but with a hearty laugh among ourselves at the cheapness of 
the bribe. 



12 



THE HOLY LAND. 



There are lines of French, Russian and Austrian steamers 
from Alexandria to JaiFa, Beirut, Smyrna, and all the principal 
ports of the Levant, so that there are generally one or two op- 
portunities every week of leaving this place for the Holy Land. 
Our steamer is a Russian craft, but well built, manned and fur- 
nished. The rates of fare to Jaffa are about twenty dollars for 
first cabin, and twelve dollars and fifty cents for second. Many 
poor pilgrims take a deck passage, and are carried for a very 
trifiing sum. Persons wishing to economize their expenditures, 
will find a second cabin passage on any of these steamers com- 
fortable as they could desire. The state-rooms are good, beds 
are clean, and table well supplied with a good variety of pro- 
visions, and well cooked. 

At 10 o'clock we moved out of the harbor, and steamed 
away in a northeasterly direction. I stood upon the promenade 
deck, my e3^es intently fixed upon the receding shore, and as it 
faded from my view I bade 

FAREWELL TO EGYPT. 

Adieu, thou strange and wonderful land! Desert and gar- 
den, river and plain, modern cities, majestic and moldering 
ruins, adieu ! Land of the labyrinth, the phoenix, the pyra- 
mids and the Sphinx, I shall see the^ no more ! What a trea- 
sure book of history and of study thou hast been ! The schol- 
ars of modern nations have wandered among thy ruins, and 
thou hast been their teacher. The spirit of modern investiga- 
tion has brooded over thee, and the chaos of thine ancient his- 
tory has assumed form and shape. God in his wisdom has 
caused light to shine out of thy darkness. 

Once thou wert the pride and glory of earth, but now how 
changed and fallen ! The tombs of thy scholars have been 
lost; thy Phoenix has perished no more to renew his sepulchral 
flames; thy Memnon is forever silent, and thy temples and 
gods have crumbled into dust! O, Egj^pt! how thou hast been 
plundered of even the remnants of thy former greatness! The 
denizens of thy tombs have been borne away; thine obelisks 
have been removed; and what remained of thy statues, altars 
and images, have been stolen to adorn the parks and enrich the 



FAEEWELL TO EGYPT. 



13 



museums of modem cities. Degenerate land, thy children once 
called thee Mother of the World ! " " Thou, who hast given 
all things to mankind — laws, science, industry, arts — why hast 
thou kept nothing for thyself?" But still thou hast a name — 
an everlasting name. Thou hast monuments that can never 
perish. And though thou sittest in silence, solitude and degra- 
dation, the traveler will still come and muse among thy ruins, 
and thou wilt long continue to be an instructor of the nations ! 

Such were the reflections that pressed themselves upon me as 
the dark line of shore grew fainter and fainter, blended with 
the rolling billows of the deep, and — was gone. I looked about 
me, there was the ship on which I stood, the deep blue vault of 
the heavens over my head, the vast expanse of waters that en- 
circled me — all the rest had disappeared. 

We have now a ride of a day and a half from Alexandria to 
Jaffa; how shall we occupy the time? There are so many in- 
quiries for information as to the modes of foreign travel, neces- 
sary outfit, and best mode of getting along, I propose to give 
the reader some of the results of my experience thus far. 
Other particulars, as to time, expense, and the like, I will give 
hereafter. So take a seat with me under this deck-awning, and 
I will give you a few 

GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 

Most persons burden themselves from the very start with too 
much luggage. Let the quantity be as limited in amount, as 
light, snugly packed, and portable as possible. I took no trunk 
with me. Two good sized leather traveling bags or carpet 
sacks, which you can take in your hands, if necessary, are am- 
ply sufficient. You need take no change of clothing except 
under garments, and of these only two or three changes, as 
you can get washing done frequently, and when your garments 
are worn you can get new in any city of the East, even in Cairo, 
Jerusalem and Beirut, cheaper than at home. One pair of pants 
lasted me through all my travels in Egypt, Sinai and Syria, till 
I reached Smyrna, where they were exchanged for new. One 
traveling coat lasted me till I was as far on my return as Rome, 
where for eight dollars I bought a good black broadcloth one, 



14 



THE HOLY LAND. 



that served me the rest of the way, and in which I was not 
ashamed to make my appearance among my friends at home. 
One pair of boots is sufficient. Have them made large, of best 
calf-skin, and double soles. If you intend to visit mountain re- 
gions and make foot excursions, this last direction is absolutely 
essential. These excursions make a heavy draft on shoe-leath- 
er. One day's climbing amid the sharp, granite rocks of Sinai 
and Horeb will nearly demolish an ordinary pair of light boots. 
Besides enduring the wear, the heavy soles are essential for the 
protection of the feet. With a large sized, thick-soled boot, 
the feet will not blister and suffer as with light ones. You will 
also need to take with you a good overcoat and a large blanket 
shawl. You will find many places where both these articles 
will add very much to your comfort. A light umbrella will 
often be needed to protect you from the sun, sometimes from 
the rain, and a light India rubber wrapper is often a great con- 
venience. 

Have your name plainly printed on your traveling bags or 
trunk, if you carry one, and put on a temporary card labeled 
with the place of your immediate destination. The more close- 
ly you can attend to your baggage yourself, the less likely you 
will be to meet with loss or delays in having it left or misdi- 
rected. The above directions as to the amount of luggage, of 
course, applies only to single gentlemen, and those wishing to 
travel as economical as possible. If you have ladies with you, 
luggage and expenses, as a consequence, must be proportionally 
increased; and if you wish to fee servants and pay extras, you 
can take as much with you as you are willing to bear the trou- 
ble and expense of. 

On landing in a foreign port or at a railway station, you will 
immediately find yourself surrounded by runners and criers, 
and if among people of a strange language, a perfect jargon of 
sounds will be poured into your ears. Hotel cards will be 
thrust into your hands, prices bawled out, and a dozen porters 
will be snatching for your luggage. This will increase the 
farther you go east. The insolence and rapacity of boatmen, 
hackmen, runners and carriers seem to increase in proportion 
as the intelligence and refinement of the countries in which you 



VEXATIONS OF TKAVEL. 



15 



travel decrease. Tlie Englishman, or the American even, will 
bleed your purse as freely as the Arab or the Turk ; but he will 
do it so much more politely and adroitly, you will scarcely real- 
ize the swindle. 

PASSPORTS 

Are quite a source of trouble and expense. The necessity of 
having them recognized and countersigned at the different 
ports, as you pass from country to country, often occasions much 
delay and trouble. You have to visit sometimes two or three 
different consuls, as well as the police officers. In a city of 
strangers and a strange language, this is often quite perplex- 
ing. Yet, vexatious as it is, the passport sometimes becomes 
very necessary; and the right of appealing to the consul of one's 
own nation for protection and justice, is found a very essential 
and important privilege. If two or more persons are traveling 
together, the expenses may be greatly diminished by having 
their names all on one passport. This any consul in any port 
where company may join you has a right to do, and the ex- 
pense of a vise is no more for a passport containing a dozen 
names than for a single person. This is worth remembering. 
The expenses of one's passport for a tour through Europe and 
the East, if alone, will amount to near twenty dollars, and if 
you have several traveling companions, this can be divided 
among them. 

CUSTOM-HOUSES, 

As well as passports, you will find a serious annoyance, but 
you must learn to let patience have her perfect work. In some 
ports, though not many, you will not be permitted to take your 
own baggage with you on shore. In most places, custom-house 
porters are appointed to convey it from the vessel to the reve- 
nue office, and these porters are responsible for its safety. You 
must follow it yourself, or send your keys by some servant or 
agent. In the examination, do not be cross, or in a hurry. 
Open your packages, and invite examination. Courtesy and 
good humor will be almost sure to meet a corresponding re- 
turn. The officers have their duty to do, and it is often a disa- 



16 



THE HOLY LAND. 



greeable one to them as well as you. Avoid any thing calcu- 
lated to increase the unpleasantness of that duty, for they can 
return any lack of courtesy on your part a thousand fold. If 
you have any articles you know are liable to pay duty, declare 
them to the officer. If they are in small quantities for your 
own use, or for presents to your friends, you will seldom be 
charged any thing on them. If you attempt to conceal them, 
and they are discovered, they are liable to seizure and confisca- 
tion. Eemember, also, that any police officer at any time, and 
in any place, has a right to demand and examine your pass- 
port; and any custom-house officer, if he choose, has a right to 
search your person. 

MAKING ACQUAINTANCES. 

Under this head I cannot do better than to give the substance 
of what an experienced person has said: ''Let the American 
trust mostly to the force of his own address, and the occa- 
sional contact incident to travel, for the formation of pleasant 
acquaintances. An intimacy will often be established in the 
course of a few hours' journey, of a more substantial, enduring 
and profitable character, than may be achieved through the 
medium of a letter of introduction. What Queen Elizabeth is 
alleged to have said of the recommendatory character of a 
' good face,' is of great force among the middle classes in Eu- 
rope. And better even than the good face, is the pleasant 
manner, the unaffected disposition to be satisfied, the anxiety 
to obtain, and the readiness to communicate information. Ee- 
serve and taciturnity must be scattered to the winds the mo- 
ment a person leaves home to seek knowledge and agreeable 
intercourse abroad. Let not the apprehension of a rebuff* deter 
the traveler from asking questions of any fellow- traveler — be 
tliat individual a gentleman or lady — upon matters of general 
interest. The chances are that in nine cases out of ten he will 
receive courteous replies and ready information. And this 
will be likely to be more prompt and cordial, if he proclaims 
himself an American, making a tour in gratification of a laud- 
able curiosity. There is a natural desire, among all civilized 
countries, to create favorable impressions on the minds of for- 



i 



ADVICE TO TEAYELERS. 



17 



eigners. Many, on discovering they are communicating with 
persons of intelligence and good breeding, will tender an invi- 
tation to their dwellings, or volunteer to become the cicerone of 
the stranger." 

The excellency of this advice I proved on many occasions. 
I went with my eyes and ears open, and my tongue loose, and 
many a profitable and pleasant acquaintance did I form, on 
railroad cars, ships, and in hotels; and the declaration of 
American citizenship I found a talisman to unlock the reserve 
of the most taciturn. "While upon this point I will mention 
but one thing more. A friend, who had been over the ground 
before me, in closing his directions, gave me, as a last and gen- 
eral rule, to be remembered in all my travels: "Beheve no- 
body, trust your common sense, and go ahead." Unpleasant as 
it may be to carry in one's heart such distrust of those about 
him, I found the precept of great use to me in many trying 
circumstances. 

But while we have been talking, darkness has settled down 
upon us. Other directions and particulars relating to expenses 
andl the like will be given as we proceed. Let us now com- 
mend ourselves to the protection of Almighty God, and seek a 
night's rest. To-morrow we hope to press with our feet the 
soil of that land towards which we have so long and so anxi- 
ously looked. 

Tuesday^ March 17th. Yesterday we had a heavy sea. To- 
day the wind has abated, the sea is comparatively calm, and 
the day bright and pleasant. Most persons, in entering Pales- 
tine from this direction, take a dragoman with them from Al- 
exandria. This we did not do, as we had no doubt but we 
could readily enough make our way to Jerusalem without, and 
then we could take one when we found it necessary. This, 
though it subjected us to some extra perplexities, was a great 
saving in our expenditures. We were favored also in having 
in our company a German from Alexandria, who could talk 
Arabic, and who thus became to us a sort of guide and inter- 
preter. 

About 1 o'clock all eyes were turned anxiously towards the 
land, eager to catch a first view. In about half an hour, a long. 



18 



THE HOLY LAND. 



low, dark line was visible, beneath the great bank of fleecy 
clouds that skirted the horizon. Some said it was land, some 
affirmed it to be only a bank of eloads. A field -glass was 
brought into requisition, and the question settled — it was the 
Holy Land. As we approached it, the outlines became more 
distinct, the hills assumed shape— the whole line of coast was 
distinctly seen, and the queer looking stone city of Jaffa — the 
Joppa of the I^ew Testament — with its fort-like houses, rising 
tier above tier, upon the hill-side, was fully and clearly in view. 
I will not attempt to describe my feelings as I approached it — 
far different from any I ever experienced before. I was about 
to realize the long anticipated desire of my heart, to walk upon 
the soil pressed by the feet of patriarchs, prophets and apostles, 
and visit the localities where they lived and labored, and com- 
muned with God. 

THE LANDING. 

This was far more difficult than I had anticipated, both from 
the roughness of the sea, and the rudeness of the rabble around 
the beach. There is really no harbor at Jaffa, and in high 
winds it is unsafe for vessels to stop at all, and they are fre- 
quently compelled to take the passengers on to Beirut. The 
sea was not so rough as to prevent a landing, but enough so to 
make it difficult. It was dusk as we approached the shore, and 
the landing place was a scaffold built out over the sea, ten to 
fifteen feet above our heads, and as the waves lifted us up, we 
must be caught and pulled up by the natives standing above. 
Here they had crowded, half-naked, barbarous looking fellows, 
as thick as they could stand, yelping, crowding and pushing, 
eager to lend a helping hand that they might claim a back- 
sheesh. It was a long time before I would consent to pass up 
my baggage, for there was no one above to be responsible for 
it. At last, seeing no alternative, I passed up my bags, and they 
were immediately snatched by half a dozen, and while they were 
contending who should take them, a couple of stout fellows 
seized me by the arms, and dragged me upon the platform. 1 
soon succeeded in wresting by main strength my carpet sacks 
from the contending crowd, got them upon the shoulders of a 



LANDING AT JAFFA. 



19 



native, and with him, amid shouts for backsheesh, forced my 
way through the crowd. I had scarcely got out of the press, 
when a savage looking fellow seized me by the shoulder, calling 
out in broken English, "Backsheesh, backsheesh, I pull you 
up immediately another was upon me, " Backsheesh, I pull 
one arm." I was glad to get rid of the crowd on any terms, 
and handing them a quarter of a dollar, they decamped. I 
thought I had been in many close places, among hackmeu, 
boatmen and donkey boys, especially at Alexandria and Cairo, 
but I had never seen the like of this before. But our difficul- 
ties at last were at an end, and we found a quiet retreat for the 
night in the Latin convent of the place. The monks treated 
us kindly, and made the best provision they could for our com- 
fort ; but their convent is a dark, cheerless looking place. There 
is one public house here for the accommodation of strangers, 
but the traveler will find no special inducements to prolong his 
stay. 

Before leaving home I had, by the kindne,5s of a friend, been 
furnished with letters of introduction to Dr. Barclay, author of 
The City of the Great King," an American by birth and ed- 
ucation, and for many years a resident of Jerusalem, and mis- 
sionary of the Disciples. He was now residing at Jaffa, where 
he has a beautiful location among the orange groves near the 
city. I went out to call on him, desirous of availing myself of 
his knowledge of the country in the further prosecution of my 
journey. Through the lying treachery of some Arab servants, 
my design was frustrated, and, much to my disappointment, I 
failed to see him. I afterwards met the Doctor in Jerusalem, 
and received from him much valuable assistance and informa- 
tion. 

The forenoon was mostly spent in procuring horses and mak- 
ing arrangments to go on to Jerusalem. The distance is about 
thirty-six miles; the time about twelve hours; the roads mere 
foot-paths, up and down rocky hill-sides, and along rough and 
difficult ravines. The usual price for a horse to Jerusalem is 
twenty piasters, or about eighty-five cents. In consequence of 
the number of pilgrims at this season of the year, (Easter,) and 
the increased demand for conveyance, one hundred piasters was 



20 



THE HOLY LAND. 



demanded for one horse. After considerable bantering, a very 
common thing here, we succeeded in procuring horses for our 
company of six at sixty-five piasters each, a plaster being, as 
we have stated before, about four and one-fourth cents. 

JOPPA AND ITS HISTORY. 

This place is now called Yaffa by the Arabs, and Jaffa by the 
Franks. The houses are all of stone, very compactly built, the 
streets very narrow, and many of them, like Malta, stone stair- 
ways, arched over head. It contains about five thousand inhab- 
itants, about one thousand of whom are Christians. A few 
Jews are found here, perhaps not more than one hundred and 
fifty in all. The town has the usual accompaniment of dogs, 
fleas, ragged children, and lazy, dirty, half-naked men. 

This city is of very ancient date, ranking among the oldest in 
the world. It is several times mentioned in the Old Testament. 
In the apportionment of the land among the tribes under 
Joshua, Joppa is mentioned as one of the maritime towns al- 
lotted to Dan. When Solomon commenced building the House 
of the Lord, the cedars which the King of Tyre cut upon Leb- 
anon were floated down to Joppa, and from thence conveyed 
across the country to Jerusalem. After the return from the 
captivity in Babylon, we are informed that the Jews gave 
" meat, drink and oil unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, 
to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa," for re- 
building the House of the Lord. But the chief place of inter- 
est to the Christian visitor is 

THE HOUSE OF SIMON, THE TANNER. 

This is the house where Peter lodged, and upon the top of 
which he had his remarkable vision. Dorcas, a renowned 
Christian disciple, had sickened and died. Peter was stopping 
at Lydda, but a short distance from this place, and his fame for 
working miracles had spread over the country. A delegation 
was sent from the bereft friends of Dorcas to call him to this 
scene of mourning. And when he was brought into the upper 
chamber, " all the widows stood by him weeping and showing 
the coats and garments which Dorcas had made." Dorcas was 



HOUSE OF SI MO if. 



21 



restored alive to her friends, and Peter was invited to lodge 
with Simon, the tanner. 

"Whether the house to which we were taken is really the one, 
may be considered very doubtful, but it certainly answers to 
the description given in the 10th chapter of Acts. It is by the 
sea side, and one of the terrace walls is washed by its restless 
waves. The house is a very ancient one, and being strongly 
built of stone, is well calculated to endure the wear and tear of 
time. But whether the house can be identified or not, there is 
no doubt but this is the city ; and either on this roof or some 
other one not far distant, Peter performed his devotions, and 
had that remarkable vision, in which lie was taught that God 
was no respecter of persons, but that in all nations he that 
feared him and worked righteousness should be accepted of 
him — that the gospel was not for the Jew only, but for lost and 
sinful man wherever found. Here it was that the vision was 
interpreted, and Peter's doubts resolved, by the arrival of a del- 
egation from Cessarea, with whom he was instructed to go, 
with the assurance that the vision was of God. Cessarea was 
visited; the prayer of Cornelius was answered; himself, and 
his worshiping company, received the word of God, the conso- 
lations of Christian faith and hope were imparted to the Gen- 
tiles, and the door of the Christian church opened for their 
admission. 

To me there was many an interesting reflection connected 
with this event. I had been traveling over the ground where 
the ordinances and ceremonies had been instituted, that had 
hedged in, like an impassable barrier, the Jewish nation. 
ISTow, I was entering upon the land where these partition walls 
of laws and ordinances that were against us, had been broken 
down, that all men might become fellow-heirs in the blessings 
of a glorious and eternal salvation. 

From the battlements of this roof we could look down upon 
the shore from which Jonah embarked on his perilous voyage; 
for when he undertook to run away from obedience to the com- 
mands of the Almighty, he came to Joppa, and found a ship 
going to Tarshish. Here our eye rested upon the waters that 
were lashed into fury by the fearful storm, and there dwelt the 



22 



THE HOLY LAND. 



leviathan in whose capacious maw the disobedient prophet 
found a living tomb. If all who thus attempt to run away 
from the Lord should meet the fate of Jonah, what an amount 
of work the ''great fish" of that sea would have to do ! 

This city was one of the strongholds of the Assyrians. In 
their wars with the Jews, they and the Egyptians sacked and 
pillaged the place five times; three times it was taken by the 
Romans, and twice it was plundered by the Saracens, in one of 
which conquests eight thousand of its inhabitants were butch- 
ered. March, 1799, it fell into the hands of E"apoleon, and 
the visitor now goes down to stand upon the spot where four 
thousand soldiers, chiefly Albanians, in violation of the terms 
of capitulation, were marched out with their hands tied behind 
them, and deliberately shot by I^apoleon's order. Here, too, 
the traveler is told, this same military commander, when forced 
to commence his retreat across the desert to Egypt, finding in 
his hospitals from four to five hundred of his own men whom 
he could not remove, administered to each a dose of poison and 
left them behind. ! 

The modern city, which, but twenty years ago, contained only 
about six thousand inhabitants, has, within a few years, includ- 
ing the gardens of the suburbs, more than doubled its popula- 
tion. Her gardens, orchards, and orange groves now constitute 
some of the most delightful portions of the land. 

DEPARTURE FOR JERUSALEM. 

At 2 o'clock our arrangements were completed, our horses 
were at the place of rendezvous, and our luggage packed upon 
a couple of mules. When my horse was brought me, I found a 
poor, miserable, foundered nag — an ugly looking ringbone on 
one of his feet — totally unfit for service. The horses furnished 
the others, though mean enough, were far superior to mine. I 
declined to accept him', and decidedly refused to go unless a de- 
cent horse was furnished. A rabble of Arabs always gather 
around on such occasions, and they declared he was tihe, (good,) 
#^nd to prove it one of them mounted him, to show off his agili- 
ty. In starting, he struck his ringbone foot against a stone, 
and went hobbling off" on three legs, much to the chagrin of 



A BEAUTIFUL PLAIN. 



23 



the rider, and the great amusement of the by-standers. The 
scene was so kidicrons, roars of laughter burst from every side. 
Still the groomsman declared he was tihe, and would do well, 
after he had gone a mile or two. But I was firm, and refused 
to accept him. I was then solicited to ride him as far as the 
gate, assured that there another should be furnished. I sus- 
pected this was only a ruse to get me started, and then leave 
me to get on as best I could, and I learned afterwards such was 
the fact. I had no idea of being turned off with any such shab- 
by, broken-down pack-horse, and after much gesticulation and 
higgling, seeing no way of bringing the rascals to terms, I per- 
emptorily ordered my baggage to be taken from the pack-mule, 
and told them I would look out a horse for myself. This had 
the desired effect, and in less than ten minutes a decent horse 
was furnished me. I mention this as one incident among many 
of a similar kind, showing the disposition of the natives and the 
manner of their dealing with travelers, as well as the necessity 
that often compels one to contend sternly with them. As a 
general thing, those natives the traveler comes in contact with 
in business transactions are an arrant set of knaves. 

RAMLEH AND PLAIN OP SHARON. 

"We left Jaffa by the only gate upon the land side, and set 
our faces towards the Holy City. The country about Jaffa is 
certainly a most delightful one. Extensive plains, covered with 
luxuriant vegetation, stretched along the shore of the sea, and 
far into the interior. Large orange groves were just yielding 
their luxuriant harvests of golden-colored fruit. Such oranges 
I had never before seen, and had no idea they ever grew to 
such great size. The ground was dotted with fiowers of every 
hue, and the air was vocal with the music of birds. 

Our road lay directly across the beautiful Plain of Sharon, 
It commences on the north at the base of Carmel, and thus in 
scripture we find Sharon and Carmel mentioned together. It 
is a long,. low, maritime plain, running southward to Philistia. 
Sharon signifies " level ground," or a " a plain." Li the early 
history of Israel it was noted for its fine pasturage. 

In the days of the prophet Isaiah, the voice of inspiration 



24 



THE HOLY LAND. 



proclaimed that Sharon should be a wilderness. "What was 
then predicted is now fulfilled. The traveler every where, as he 
rides over this beautiful plain, sees written in unmistakable lan- 
guage the fulfillment of the prediction. But few villages are 
seen, and but few cultivated spots adorn it. It has become a 
home for the lawless, wandering Bedawin. Here his black 
tents dot the landscape, and here he roams with his fiocks of 
sheep and goats. With its wide undulations and verdant slopes, 
it is still beautiful to the eye; and one, as he rides over it, can- 
not but regret that it should be given up to neglect and deso- 
lation. 

THE ROSE OF SHARON. 

We wondered if we could be favored with the sis^ht of that 
once renowned and beautiful fiower to which Solomon likened 
his beloved. A missionary, long resident in the country, in- 
formed me, as the result of his investigations, that it was now 
impossible to determine what particular flower was meant, l^o 
one, he thinks, can now tell what the Eose of Sharon was. 
Another one thinks the malva, a sort of marsh mallows that 
grows abundantly upon this plain, rising into a stout bush, 
bearing thousands of beautiful flowers, may be the plant alluded 
to. Others, again, object to this, and contend for the real rose, 
queen of flowers, wild varieties of which are said to grow on 
some parts of this plain. It is quite certain the rose was known 
to the ancients, and beautiful ones might have been grown upon 
the dry, sandy soil of this plain. The knowledge of the par- 
ticular flower alluded to may have been lost; we may never see 
its beauty or be regaled by its fragrance ; but the real Eose of 
Sharon lives — his beauties are unfading, and he unfolds his 
charms to every believer, whether he be an inhabitant of the 
plain, a child of the desert, or the mountain. On this route 
you pass near, and can visit, if you choose, the ancient city of 

LYDDA, OR LTJDD, 

As it is now called. It numbers about two thousand inhab- 
itants, and is surrounded by beautiful groves, among which may 
be seen the olive, the fig, and the pomegranate. Despite the 



MIRACLES AND BATTLES. 



25 



ruin that has crept over the country, it is a pleasant spot for 
the eye to rest upon, and there is about it an air of thrift and 
prosperity that can be seen in but few places in the land. Here 
are the ruins of the old church of St. George ; indeed, it is said 
to be the birth-place of that renowned knight and dragon- 
killer. One noble old arch of the church is left standing, a sad 
memento of its former imposing grandeur. 

This is one of the few places that retains its ancient Hebrew 
name. Of the children of Lod there returned from the Baby- 
lonish captivity seven huudred and twenty-five, and l^ehemiah 
mentions this city as being in the valley of craftsmen. But 
what is of more interest, we shall now be constantly passing 
over ground that has been consecrated and immortalized, not 
only by deeds of Old Testament history, but by the marvelous 
miracles of the 'New. Once there lay in that city a poor, af- 
flicted man, who, for eight years, had kept his bed with the 
palsy. An apostle of the Savior came journeying this way, and 
stood by the bed-side of the helpless man. What strange lan- 
guage he uttered. Eneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole ; 
arise, and make thy bed." And he arose immediately. It was 
the fame of this great miracle that called Peter to Joppa to re- 
store Dorcas to life, and that ended in his illustrious mission to 
the Gentiles. Surely we are entering upon the arena of re- 
nowned and wonderful events. We should have mentioned as 
we passed about an hour's ride from Jaffa, 

BEIT DEJAN, OR BETH DAGON. 

In this name the reader will readily recognize an ancient 
scriptural locality, suggestive of the old deity of the Philistines. 
Indeed, stretching away all along to the south of us is the coun- 
try of that powerful race of people, who so long and so success- 
fully opposed themslves to the people of God. There is Aske- 
lon, Ashdod, Gath and Gaza, from which the intrepid Sampson 
bore the ponderous city gates. It was on this field, too, he per- 
formed many other renowned exploits. Here he slew the lion 
and puzzled the people with his strange riddle ; and near us 
are some of the great battle-fields where fearful scenes of 
blood and carnage have been enacted. It was among these 



26 



THE HOLY LAND. 



cities the captive ark of God went wandering, when the people, 
troubled and afflicted at its presence, sent it from place to place. 
Beth Dagon means "House of Dagon." So we maj conclude 
that here that renowned deity had one of his celebrated tem- 
ples. It was into one of these temples the people brought the 
captured ark of God, and in the morning their god Dagon was 
found prostrate before it. An invigorating ride of about two 
hours brought us to 

RAMLEH. 

Ramleh means " sandy," and is surrounded by a sandy plain, 
covered with luxuriant vegetation. The large gardens, inclosed 
with enormous cactus hedges, have a very singular appearance. 
As you approach the place, your attention is arrested by an old 
ruined stone tower of great size, and one hundred and twenty 
feet high, standing upon an elevation one-fourth of a mile from 
the town. How came that imposing s^Decimen of architectural 
skill and industry here ? "Who can tell? As you approach it 
you pass over many old vaulted cisterns, and other ruins are 
seen in the vicinity, indicating the existence, in former days, of 
a population in its immediate vicinity. The Arabs now claim 
it as the minaret of a ruined mosque; but it was probably the 
tower of an ancient church erected by the Crusaders; and long 
before the muezzin's call to prayer was heard there, it was the 
tower of a Christian church, from which the tolling bell called 
to the worship of the Savior. 

Eamleh some suppose to be the Arimathea of Joseph. Oth- 
ers tell us it was not a ^Tew Testament town, but was probably 
built in the early part of the eighth century. It has a prominent 
place in the history of the Crusaders. They found it a walled 
city, with four gates opening to each of the four cardinal points. 
It had its markets, mosques, and stores of provisions. In 1099, 
as the Crusaders approached, the city was deserted by the in- 
habitants, and the invaders found rest and refreshment within 
its walls. Here, it is said, they held a great feast in honor of 
St. George, and formally installed him as their patron, on ac- 
count of the miracle he had wrought in their favor at Antioch. 

About an hour before sunset we entered the town. There is 



RIDE TO JERUSALEM. 



27 



no public house here, but there is a Latin convent, occupied by 
a few Spanish and Italian friars, within the walls of which 
travelers can find a resting place — not, however, on the princi- 
ple of charity — the monks expect a liberal fee for their boiled 
eggs and brown bread. "We furnished ourselves with a day's 
rations at Jaffa, the German missionary of the town furnished 
us an empty room, matrasses and blankets, and we j)assed a 
second night in the Holy Land in comparative comfort. 

OUR FACES TOWARDS THE HOLY CITY. 

Anxious to be on our way, we rose at an early hour in the 
morning. At 3 o'clock we made a frugal breakfast of bread 
and coffee, and were several miles on our way before the 
morning light had illuminated the eastern sky. The ride from 
Jaffa to Jerusalem is said to be one of the most dreary in all 
the country. The road winds over rocky hills, through deep 
and crooked ravines, and along slippery banks. There was, 
undoubtedly, a good road through here in Solomon's time, and 
so there must have been in the days of the Roman occupation ; 
but nearly every vestige of these former roads have been swept 
away. The ravines and side-hills are annually washed by the 
torrents of the winter rains, and it can scarcely be said there is 
any road at all. A bridle-path is all that exists, and this is, in 
many places, extremely difficult, even for the experienced 
horses of the country. The distance is probably about thirty- 
six to thirty- eight English miles. "With luggage and ordinary 
horses, it can be passed over in about twelve to fourteen hours ; 
with a good horse and no incumbrances, a person might per- 
form the journey in seven or eight hours. 

We passed near the head of the Yalley of Ajalon, and sent 
an earnest, searching look along the country over which Israel 
pursued their discomfited enemies, while, at the command of 
Joshua, the sun and moon stood still in the heavens to give 
them time to finish the work of destruction. We soon left the 
plain and entered upon the ''hill country." Our road now 
became rough and more difficult. Sometimes our horses were 
sliding along smooth, shelving beds of solid rocks ; now climb- 
ing a rough ascent, where it would seem only goats could get 



28 



THE HOLY LAND. 



a foothold ; now tramping the pebbly bed of some wild, deep 
ravine. The horses of the country are accustomed to traveling 
here, and it is astonishing with what carefulness and precision 
they will make their way along these difficult roads. 

FALL or ONE OF OUR HORSES. 

IsTotwithstanding the perilous condition of the road, but one 
accident occurred. The horse of one of the party slipped upon 
the edge of a ravine, fell, and rolled into a ditch that had been 
plowed out by the winter torrent. There the poor beast lay, 
back down and feet up, wedged under a projection of rock, un- 
able to move an inch. It took several men to lift the helpless 
brute into a position where he could again recover his standing. 
The rider slipped from his back and came off with only a 
sprained ankle ; the horse came out unharmed. "We began 
now to understand the force of the scripture expression, "hill 
country of Judea;" hilly enough, indeed, we find it, the rocky 
ascents rising all around us. Few sigDS of inhabitants were 
seen, and the country has a neglected and desolate look. But 
though the hills have been washed by winter rains till the pro- 
jecting rocks are bare and barren, the evidences of former in- 
dustry and fertility are every where apparent. The remains 
of the terraces that once adorned them from base to summit, 
are still visible, and, occasionally, a straggling olive, or an em- 
blematic fig remains, to tell the story of former cultivation and 
fruitfulness. 

A robber's glen. 

One of the wild ravines through which we passed is cele- 
brated as the scene of the exploits of a robber chieftain, named 
Abou Gaush. 'No one could go through this narrow pass with- 
out his sanction. The solitary traveler and the grand caravan 
were alike the object of his plunder. The whole country stood 
in fear of him, and travelers trembled at his name. Two 
pashas, on one occasion, attempting to pass here with their reti- 
nues, were shot dead by this daring bandit. For nearly fifty 
years he contrived to elude capture, and prosecuted his career 
of plunder and crime. At last, in 1846, himself and several of 



RESTING PLACE OF THE ARK. 



29 



his principal men fell into the hands of the Turkish authorities, 
and were sent to Constantinople. The road is now safe, but 
the remembrance of these bloody atrocities often sends a thrill 
of terror to the heart of the timid traveler. Emerging from 
this dark glen you come upon 

KIR J AT H-JE ARIM. 

Like most of the villages you see here, it is built of stone, 
and stands high up the hill-side. The hill is terraced, and 
dotted with olive and fig trees. The massive walls of a fine old 
Gothic church, dating back to the days of the Crusaders, add 
to the picturesque appearance of the town; and towering among 
the smaller houses, may be seen two or three castle-like build- 
ings, that were once the stronghold of Abou Gaush, the bloody 
chieftain. Here some of his descendants still reside, and the 
people of the place are said to still inherit much of the turbulent 
and hostile spirit that their former education has infused into 
them. 

This place is now called Kuryet el 'Enab, " the Yillage of 
Grapes," and is the site of the Kirjath-Jearim of scripture, 
"the Yillage of Forests," originally one of the cities of the 
Gibeonites, who so adroitly beguiled Joshua into a league of 
peace. It is also called in the Bible Kirjath Baal; and stood 
on the southwest angle of the territory of Benjamin, ten miles 
from Jerusalem. But it was none of these things I have men- 
tioned that led me to linger as my company rode onward, and 
turn and look again and again upon Kirjath- Jearim. I re- 
membered it as the place where the ark of God rested. 

E"ear three thousand years ago that ark had been taken from 
its resting place beneath the covert of the tabernacle at Shi- 
loh, and borne before the armies of Israel. But Israel had 
sinned against the Lord, and though they carried the symbol 
of his presence, God went not with them-. They were over- 
come in battle, and the ark of God was captured by their ene- 
mies. The Philistines carried it to Ashdod, and Dagon fell 
prostrate before it, and fearful judgments troubled the city. 
They sent it to Gaza, and thence to Ekron, but God had never 
intended that the profane hands of idolaters should pollute the 



30 



THE HOLY LAND 



consecrated symbol of his presence and glory. "Wherever it 
went plagues followed it, and fear fell on the people. At last 
it was sent back to its own people. The men of Kirjath-Jearim 
received it. On the top of yonder hill, they brought it into the 
house of Abinadab, and sanctified Eleazer, his son, to keep it ; 
and here it rested till David, after he was crowned king, pre- 
pared a place for it on Mount Zion. 

I had stood upon the place where that ark was built and 
sanctified, and God first covered it with the cloud of his glory. 
I had dwelt with intense interest upon every portion of its his- 
tory. I was anticipating a visit to old Shiloh, where for six 
hundred years it stood as the center of Israel's worship ; and 
every spot of ground over which it had been carried seemed to 
possess a peculiar sanctity. 

FIRST SIGHT OF ZION. 

On we went, sometimes climbing along the rocky hill-sides, 
and now picking our way along the water-course of some deep 
glen. I^othing can be better calculated to awaken thoughts 
of robbers and banditti than some of these wild mountain 
passes, and no place could be better calculated to shield the 
assassin in his deeds of blood. A dense tangled growth of 
dwarf-oak, hawthorn and rock-rose crowd close upon the 
pathway, and the jagged rocks lend their aid to increase the 
security of these lurking places. 

About 12 o'clock we were on the look-out for the city of our 
destination. Passing down a long defile into a deep valley, we 
flattered ourselves we should catch a glimpse of the wished for 
place as we ascended. Up the opposite ascent we slowly and 
wearily toiled. "We thought we had gained the summit, and 
strained our eyes for a glimpse of Zion and Olivet. Still there 
was another hight beyond. Up, and up, and up we went. At 
last we reached the summit, and looking far ahead, the distant 
mountains of Moab rose first upon our view; then the deep 
valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea; a little nearer, and the 
minarets first, then the domes, and the houses, and the massive 
walls rose up before us. Involuntarily we exclaimed : " The 



FIRST SIGHT OF JERUSALEM. 



Holy City! The Holy City!" How appropriate the words of 
Tasso seemed : 

" Lo, towered Jerusalem salutes the eye ! 
A thousand pointing fingers tell the tale ; 

' Jerusalem ! ' a thousand voices cry, 
' All hail, Jerusalem ! ' hill, down and dale 
Catch the glad sounds, and shout, ' Jerusalem, all hail ! ' " 

Mr. Herrick and myself were riding side by side, separated 
from the rest of our company. We stopped our horses, uncov- 
ered our heads, and fixed our deep, earnest gaze upon the sa- 
cred place, fraught with so many hallowed associations — the 
great central point from which has gone forth the influence 
that is regenerating the world. 

How deep the emotions, and how inspiring; the associations 
that came crowding upon us ! The history of three thousand 
years seemed compressed into a brief space, and the eye of 
memory took them all in at a glance. There was the city of 
David, and of David's Lord ; there was Zion, Moriah, Gethse- 
mane, Olivet and Calvary! Our eyes seemed riveted to the 
sacred spot. We uncovered our heads in reverence, and lifted 
our hearts in grateful thanksgiving to Almighty Grod, who had 
spared us in all the perils of a journey of near seven thousand 
miles, and granted us so much of the desire of our hearts. I 
believe our feelings were in unison. It was no superstitious or 
noisy enthusiasm that moved us. It was a moment of deep, 
silent, solemn, reverential awe. 

But the first emotions kindled by the sight subsided. On we 
went, rapidly nearing the place. Just about 1 o'clock we en- 
tered the Jaffa gate, and our feet stood within the walls of " The 
City of the Great King." 



34 



THE HOLY LAND. 



CHAPTER II. 

Our Home in Jerusalem — A Glance at the City — Sketch 

OF ITS History. 

We entered Jerusalem on tlie 21st of March. The accom- 
modation for travelers in the way of public houses is quite lim- 
ited and expensive. The Mediterranean hotel is the principal 
one, at two dollars and fifty cents a day. A Christian Jew 
keeps a sort of boarding-house — "Traveler's Rest" — where a 
comfortable home can be found at one dollar and twenty-five 
cents a day. There is also a German Hospice, established in 
part for the entertainment of Christian travelers, where a lim- 
ited number, usually not more than six or eight at a time, can 
find agreeable quarters, at three dollars and fifty cents a week. 
Hundreds of the poor pilgrims of the difierent branches of the 
church are entertained gratuitously in the different convents 
of the city. In consequence of the previous acquaintance of 
one of our company with a monk of the Franciscan convent, 
and who had invited him on his visit to Jerusalem to make the 
convent his home, we were induced first to make application to 
that institution. 

The door-keeper carried our request to the Father Superior, 
who,>fter some questioning as to who we were, whence we 
came, and what our object in visiting the Holy City was, gave 
us an order of admittance. 

The first home of these Franciscans, in Jerusalem, was in the 
Hospital of St. John. From this they were driven by a change 
of masters, when they established themselves on Mount Zion, 
near where the Moslem tomb of David now stands. Here they 
remained from A. D. 1318 to 1561. Another change of mas- 
ters expelled them from this, when they bought the present 



CONVENT or ST. 



SALVADOR. 



35 



convent of St. Salvador, where they still continue. The house 
for the entertainment of travelers is attached to the convent, 
and is called " The l^ew House of the World for the Enter- 
tainment of Pilgrims." It is open, as the rules declare, for the 
reception of pilgrims from all parts of the world, without any 
distinction of nationality or religion. Visitors, by conforming 
to the rules, are allowed to remain thirty days. 'No charge is 
made, but presents are not refused. The living is plain, but 
plentiful; the cooking is done by the monks, and servants are 
employed to take care of the rooms. The Father Superior is 
always an Italian, and the monks are nearly all Italian, and the 
Italian language is mostly spoken among them. We were 
there during Lent and Easter, and a large number of visitors 
were in attendance, mostly Italians and French. Several high 
church dignitaries from different parts of Europe were stopping 
there, and during ten days of the time about sixty officers of 
the French army from Beirut. A portion of the time their 
house was full, and from eighty to one hundred dined at their 
table. 

A GLANCE AT THE CITY. 

Although we were protestants and among strangers, we were 
treated with kindness and attention. Among the monks we 
found an Irish priest by the name of Stafford, who seemed 
much pleased to find company with whom he could converse in 
English. He spent considerable time with us in our rooms, 
and went with us several days in our excursions about the city 
and country. We obtained much valuable information from 
him as to the number and influence of the different religious 
sects in Palestine and Jerusalem, and also with regard to the 
so called Holy Places. The monks of this convent appear to 
be quite an intelligent and industrious class of persons. They 
have, within the walls of their convent, a mill driven by horse- 
power, where they grind all their own grain; they have also 
quite an extensive printing establishment, where they manufac- 
ture books for their churches and schools. Other kinds of me- 
chanical labor are also carried on among them. 

Here, then, we are, after a long and fatiguing journey, in one 
3 



36 



THE HOLY LAND. 



of the most interesting places in the world. " Our feet stand 
within thy gates, O Jerusalem!" What a history this city 
has ! Jerusalem, " The Abode of Peace." The, Greeks called 
it Hierosolyma, hence the sacred Solyma. The derivation of 
the name has been a subject of much dispute. The Jewish 
rabbins have ingeniously reconciled conflicting opinions as fol- 
lows : " The name of the place is Jehovah- Jireh. Abraham 
called the name of the place Jireh; Shem called it Shalem. 
Saith God : ^ If I shall call it Jireh, it will displease Shem the 
just ; if I shall call it Shalem, it will displease Abraham the 
just. I will, therefore, put the name upon it which was put 
upon it by both — Jir eh- Shale m ' — Jerushalaim — Jerusalem. 
The Arabs and Turks call it El-Khuds, "the Holy, or Beit-el- 
Makhudis," " the Holy House, or House of the Sanctuary." 

Once it was the royal residence of Melchisedek, the prince 
and priest. Here was Moriah, to which Abraham came on the 
third day from Beersheba, when, in the stern resolution of au 
unwavering faith, he laid his only son upon the altar, and re- 
ceived him back as one alive from the dead. Here, for many 
long years, was the capital of the Hebrew nation; the royal 
palace of her kings, and the center of their worship. Hither 
the tribes came up, the tribes of the Lord, to worship in his 
holy temple. " In Salem was God's tabernacle, and his dwell- 
ing place in Zion." And here, inspiring thought! in subse- 
quent times, a greater than Abraham bound his only and well 
beloved son to the altar of the cross; and here the world wel- 
comed him back from the dead, the blessed harbinger of light, 
life, and immortality. "What interesting walks we shall 
have among these sacred localities ! What impressive lessons 
we shall learn as we wander over its hills, and reflect among 
its ruins. Contemplate 

JERUSALEM AS A BATTLE-FIELD. 

As a " Habitation of Peace," how often its history has con- 
tradicted its name ! What wars have been waged; what scenes 
of carnage and bloodshed have here been enacted! Of what 
took place here after Abraham's visit, and prior to the occupa- 
tion of the land by the children of Israel, we have no historic 



THE KINGDOM OF SOLOMON. 



37 



records to inform us. "What contentions may have arisen 
among fierce Canaanitish tribes, none can now tell. Joshua 
found here a stronghold in possession of the J ebusites. They 
were a warlike race, and strongly fortified, and no attempt 
seems to have been made by him to conquer them. After his 
death, the tribe of Judah took Jerusalem, and smote it with 
the edge of the sword, and set it on fire. But it seems far from 
having been a complete conquest, for we are informed, in an- 
other place, the children of Israel could not drive out the Jebu- 
sites inhabiting Jerusalem. The Benjaminites made an attempt, 
and also failed. They seem, however, to have possessed some 
portions of it, for the Jebusites and Israelites are mentioned as 
residing here together. It was not until David had reigned 
king in Hebron seven years and six months, that he went up 
to Jerusalem to fight against the Jebusites. At this time, so 
strongly were they fortified, they defied him Avith taunts and 
insults, and dared him to make the assault. Joab signalized 
himself by leading the attack; the Jebusites were expelled and 
utterly overthrown. David made J erusalem the capital of his 
kingdom ; built his palace upon Mount Zion ; removed hither 
the ark of the Lord; built and consecrated an altar on Mount 
Moriah in the threshing-fioor of Araunah, the Jebusite, and for 
thirty-three years reigned king over Israel and Judah. 

Its occupation by David was the commencement of its pros- 
perity. He greatly enlarged and strengthened it. It continued 
to increase in population, wealth, power and splendor, and un- 
der Solomon reached the zenith of its glory. Eich tributary 
streams from the surrounding nations poured into it. Africa 
contributed her luxuries, and India brought her spices and gold. 
The wisdom of its ruler, and the splendor of its court, were the 
wonder and astonishment of distant nations, and many, like 
the Queen of Sheba, came to witness its glory. TVTiat immense 
wealth was gathered into this city during this prosperous reign ! 
The quantity of gold left by David for Solomon to expend upon 
the temple, amounted to more than one hundred milhons of dol- 
lars. Solomon obtained more than sixteen millions of dollars 
in gold in one voyage to Ophir, while silver was so abundant, 
" it was not any thing thought of," and the king made it " to 



38 



THE HOLY LAND. 



be in Jerusalem as stones." The reign of Solomon, the build- 
ing of the temple, and the permanent establishment of the 
Hebrew worship, was the crowning glory of the nation, and 
Jerusalem wore the coronet among the world's sisterhood of 
illustrious cities. With the death of Solomon commenced 

ITS DECLINE. 

The first reverse was the revolt under Eehoboam. Ten of 
the tribes rebelled. Judah and Benjamim only remained in 
their allegiance, and J erusalem was the capital of but a small 
portion of the national territory. Soon after, Jeroboam insti- 
tuted the idolatrous worship of the golden calves at Bethel, 
and Dan and the ten tribes ceased to go up to Zion to worship 
in the House of the Lord. 

While Eehoboam was yet king, nine hundred and seventy- 
three years B. C, Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against 
Jerusalem, conquered and pillaged it, and carried away with 
him immense quantities of gold and silver, robbing even the 
sanctuary of God of its gold and silver vessels. The record of 
this conquest is preserved among the sculptured tablets of Up- 
per Egypt. The chiseled walls of the ruins of Karnack tell 
the same story that the biblical student may read in the twelfth 
chapter of the 2d book of Chronicles; another striking evi- 
dence of the manner in which God has left his Handwriting 
upon the monuments of heathen nations to corroborate the 
truth of his written word ! Three thousand years of the craft 
of designing men, and of the efforts of unbelievers, have not 
been able to destroy the one, nor the lapse of time and the rav- 
ages of war to deface the other. They are both God's wit- 
nesses, and by him have been wonderfully preserved ! 

The contending tribes of Israel and Judah were often at war 
with each other, and Jerusalem was often the scene of strife. 
Eight hundred and twenty-six years B. C, Jehoash, king of Is- 
rael, conquered Jerusalem, broke down a large portion of the 
wall, demolished the palace of Amaziah, and plundered the 
temple of God. The city continued to pass through a variety 
of fortunes. Sometimes the temple of God was honored, and 
his altars burned with holy sacrifices, and the incense of an 



JEEUSALEM A BATTLE-FIELD. 



39 



adoring people ascended from its courts ; at other times idola- 
trous rulers defiled it with their polluting sacrifices. At last, 
the cup of their iniquity was full. Then came 

THE GREAT CAPTIVITY. 

About six hundred years B. C, and a little more than four 
hundred and fifty years after David erected his palace upon 
Mount Zion, ^Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, laid siege to 
Jerusalem. Three years the city resisted all the efforts of this 
powerful monarch to reduce it to submission. But resistance 
was in vain — the invading army triumphed. The walls were 
razed to the ground — the costly and magnificent temple, and 
the splendid palaces of the city were burned with fire. Jehoi- 
achim, with all his kindred and courtiers, were taken prisoners. 
The conquering king returned in triumph to Babylon, taking 
with him an immense amount of plunder, including ten thous- 
and able men of the city, many thousands from the surround- 
ing country, together with the vessels of gold and costly furni- 
ture Solomon had made for the temple. The horrors of this 
siege, and the massacre that followed, are beyond description. 
The brutal soldiery had no compassion on young men or maid- 
ens, old men or infants. 0, Jerusalem ! what terrible scenes of 
plunder and carnage thou hast witnessed ! But the worst has 
not yet been told. 

THE GRECIAN INVASION. 

The long, tedious captivity of seventy years passed. God 
provided for the return of a punished and penitent people to 
their former home. J erusalem was re-built ; the beautiful tem- 
ple again arose from its ruins. When its foundations were laid, 
the people, Ezra informs us, shouted with joy, while some of 
the old Levites, who had seen the glory of the first temple, 
wept with a loud voice. The prophecies that foretold this cap- 
tivity, the exact time of its continuance, and the manner of 
the restoration, are among the most remarkable portions of the 
revelation of Grod. They are the unmistakable imprint of the 
hand of the Almighty in the Written Record he has given us. 

After the return from the captivity, Jerusalem, for a series 



40 



THE HOLY LAND. 



of years, seems to have enjoy ed rest and quiet. Three hundred 
and thirty-five years B. C, Alexander, the Macedonian, com- 
mences his career and extends his conquests over the Persian 
empire. Before leaving home, in the visions of the night, a 
man, curiously and strangely attired, stands before him. "Words 
of encouragement seem to fall upon the ear of Alexander, and 
the vision assures him that his expedition to the East shall be 
successful. Dominion passes from the Persians to the Greeks. 
Jerusalem is too important a city to be left out of the pro- 
gramme, and Alexander must go up and punish them for their 
fidelity to the Persians. Again a hostile army is encamped 
against Jerusalem. Must former scenes of murder and pillage 
be re-enacted? Jaddua, the high-priest, arrays himself in his 
costly sacerdotal vestments, and at the head of a train of priests, 
with the emblems of peace in their hands, marches out to meet 
the dreaded conquerer. Alexander regards them, at first, with 
stern and angry menace. But no sooner has his eye caught a 
glimpse of this strange figure at the head of the procession, 
than astonishment takes the place of anger and revenge. " The 
very figure I saw in my dream in Macedonia. What does it 
mean?^' The mission is received with reverence and respect. 
He returns with them to the city — visits their temple and joins 
with them in their sacrifices — reads from their sacred books the 
prophecy of Daniel, that a Grecian should arise and overthrow 
the Persian empire. Instead of conquests and slaughter, he 
confers upon them important privileges and immunities, and 
retires with his army from their city and country. What hand 
but the Hand of God could have guided the pen of Daniel, 
when, in his far ofl" captivity, he wrote Persian, Grecian and 
Jewish history many years before the events transpired ! 

THE ROMAN OCCUPATION. 

The triumph of the Macedonian conqueror was of short du- 
ration. The reign of the Ptolemies in Egypt was another im- 
portant era in the history of Palestine. For more than sixty 
years, under their sovereignty, Jerusalem had rest. After that, 
in the wars between Seleucus, son of Antiochus, and the Ptole- 
mies, the province of Judea and the adjoining country became 



A FIELD OF SLAUGHTEK. 



41 



the theatre of many bloody contests. About three hundred 
years B. C, the Assyrian monarch gained the ascendancy, and 
not only the peace, but the very existence of the Jewish nation 
seemed to be involved. One hundred and fifty years B. C, 
Epiphanes plundered Jerusalem, sacrificed a swine upon the 
holy altar of their temple, and with its filth polluted the 
whole building. Two years after, he sent his general, Apollo- 
nius, to complete the destruction. He selected the Sabbath 
day, the sanctity of which he knew the Jews would not violate, 
even by fighting in self-defense. His soldiers, like demons in- 
carnate, went through the streets slaughtering all they met. 
The women and children were spared to be sold as slaves. The 
houses were pillaged, the city walls laid prostrate, every street 
and lane, and even the courts of the holy temple, flowed with 
blood. Jerusalem was left desolate — sacrifices and oblations 
ceased — the sacred temple of the living God was dedicated to 
Jupiter Olympius, and the holy altar of the Deity polluted by 
the sacrifices of idols. 

"We cannot follow Jerusalem in its fortunes under the reign 
of the Maccabees. The Eoman Eagle at last gained the ascend- 
ant. Thirty-four years B. C, the last prince of the Asmonean 
line was murdered by the Roman prefect of Syria, and Herod 
the Great made king of the Jews. Then came a season of 
tranquility. The nations of the world had rest. The obla- 
tions upon the altars of Moloch ceased, and the temple of Ja- 
nus was shut. Angelic messengers announced the appearance 
of the Prince of Peace, and Christ, the Redeemer and Savior, 
walked the streets of Jerusalem. But he walked among the 
tombs of murdered kings, over the wreck and ruin of buried 
palaces, and along the avenues that had again and again 
streamed with blood. 

MASSACRE UNDER TITUS. 

City of Zion ! is not the measure of thine iniquity, and the 
cup of thy suffering yet full ? See, on yonder mount of Olives 
that Savior sits. His eye is fixed upon the city, while the long 
drawn sigh and the gathering tear indicate the deep emotions 
of his heart, as with prophetic ken he penetrates the future. 



42 



THE HOLY LAND. 



" Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and 
stonest them that are sent unto thee ; how often would I have 
gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her brood 
under her wing, but ye would not. Your house is left unto 
you desolate. Thy children shall perish within thee ; thy walls 
shall be laid even with the ground, and of thy boasted temple 
not one stone shall be left upon another." Fifty years did not 
pass away before this fearful prediction was fulfilled. 

Under Herod the city had been raised to a hight of wealth 
and prosperity it had not before enjoyed since its glory under 
Solomon. The place was enlarged, the streets improved, and the 
temple re-built and adorned, until, in many things, it even ex- 
ceeded the magnificence of the one built by Solomon. But the 
hight of greatness to which it was raised, only added darkness 
and depth to the pit of its ruin. The horrors of the siege un- 
der Titus have often been portrayed, and are familiar to almost 
every reader. Such fearful sufferings, such indiscriminate 
slaughter, such awful scenes of carnage and cruelty, the histo- 
rian has seldom been called upon to record. At last the slaugh- 
ter ceased for the want of subjects. Titus saved a part of the 
western wall and three of its towers, as monuments to show 
posterity the great strength of the city he had conquered. It 
is said that the enormous number of one million one hundred 
thousand Jews perished in the siege and massacre, and nearly 
one hundred thousand more were taken prisoners. The waUs, 
towers and fortifications, except the portion before mentioned, 
were utterly demolished, the holy temple was burned, and of all 
its glory a mass of ruins only remained. What terrible reverses 
for one single city ! and yet we have not seen the end. 

JERUSALEM WAS RE-BUILT. 

Many Jews clung to the ruins, unwilling to abandon the 
hoi -^s and tombs of their ancestors. In the twentieth year of 
the Emperor Adrian an attempt was made to restore the ruined 
city. Jupiter was made the patron god of the place ; statues 
of heathen deities were set up in the most holy places ; the an- 
cient capital of Israel, where God had manifested his glory, was 
+vqnsformed into a pagan city, and upon the very spot where 



WARS 0¥ THE CEUSADERS. 



43 



Christ had died, the altars of heathen deities polluted the 
ground. Then came the long and bloody conjlicts between pa- 
ganism and Christianity. Bloody persecutions were waged as 
one or the other triumphed. At last the religion of the cross 
was established, and Jerusalem became a Christian Patriarchite. 
Churches and monasteries were built, holy places were honored 
and consecrated, and multitudes of pilgrims began to flock to 
these Christian shrines. Then came 

THE MOHAMMEDAN CONQUEST, 

FolloTved by the wars of the Crusaders. In A. D. 636, the 
Moslem troops under the Calif Omar laid siege to Jerusalem; 
and now on this battle-field, where all nations and languages 
had alternately contended for the mastery, Mohammedans and 
Christians engaged in fierce and deadly strife, and scenes 
of former carnage were again renewed. The Moslem tri- 
umphed, the religion of the false Prophet gained the ascendant, 
and on the very site of the ancient temple they built their 
mosque, and from the summit of Moriah the muezzin's call to 
prayer was heard. Then followed long years of strife. Bloody 
conflicts were waged, and terrible massacres succeeded each 
other. In 1050, Jerusalem came under the rule of the Turks. 
The situation of the Christians became deplorable. Both pil- 
grims and residents were subjected to terrible indignities and 
cruelties. Peter the Hermit, having w^itnessed these atrocities, 
returned to Rome to tell the harrowing tale. All Christian 
Europe was aroused. Legions of valiant knights and soldiers 
precipitated themselves upon western Asia. In 1099, they cap- 
tured Jerusalem, and re-built the church of the Holy Sepulchre. 
They held the city eighty-eight years, when it was re-captured 
by Saladin, who, fearing the Christians would again obtain 
the rule, pulled down nearly all the walls, and for Ifen 
years they remained unbuilt. In 1229, Jerusalem was ? jftin 
delivered into the hands of the Crusaders. They attempted a 
few years after to re-build the walls, when a Moslem prince 
again attacked and captured the city. Four years after, the 
Christians again obtained possession of it, but they held it only 
a few months. In 1243, they were driven out for the last time, 



44 



THE HOLY LAND. 



and the crescent still triumphs. The proud Turk holds do- 
minion, and the Mussulman dictates terms of citizenship to the 
follower of the cross. But thanks to the milder reign of the 
toleration that characterizes the present day, these hitherto 
contending powers do all now dwell here in comparative peace. 
The lion now lies down with the lamb ; the muezzin's call to 
prayer, as it falls upon the ear of the faithful, mingles with the 
music of the cathedral bell, that reminds the Christian of his 
Savior, and the Jew worships the God of his fathers, md none 
molest him. 

We have introduced this brief synopsis of the city's history, 
that the reader may see upon what strange ground we are now 
standing! What scenes of thrilling interest have here trans- 
pired ! How often the clarion voice of war has awakened the 
echo of these mountains ! Here, beneath our very feet, ruins 
have been piled upon ruins, and palaces above palaces have 
^one to decay; while on the very soil upon which we tread, the 
slaughtered heaps in weltering ranks have lain, and the dust 
of many nations has been blended in strange and promiscuous 
confusion. 

WALKS ABOUT THE CITY. 

And now to which of these interesting localities shall we 
first turn our attention ? Where there is so much to be seen, 
where every foot of ground has its lessons, every hill-side 
mound and valley has been the scene of some thrilling event, 
or hallowed by some sacred association, we shall scarcely have 
time to linger over them all. Let me lead you, then, to that lo- 
cality, the name of which has become so intimately interwoven 
with all the hallowed remembrances of both J ew and Chris- 
tian, and that has given a name to the anticipated home of our 
future inheritance and rest. Let us stand upon Mount Zion. 

A few minutes' walk from our convent, and we are upon its 
very summit. This is the mount upon which the original city 
was built. Here was the stronghold of the Jebusites, captured 
by David. Here was the palace of Israel's kings, and here the 
city that became the praise of the whole earth. This was 
God's hill, in which he delighted to dwell. Of this place David 



A WALK ABOUT ZION. 



45 



speaks : " Walk about Zion, and go round about her ; tell the 
towers thereof ; mark ye well her bulwarks, and consider her 
palaces." "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth 
is Mount Zion." Alas, how changed ! How fallen! 

Zion occupies the whole southwestern section of the ancient 
site of Jerusalem^ and was the largest of the mounts over which 
the city subsequently spread. On the west and south it has the 
valley of Hinnom. From this valley the sides anciently rose 
up in steep and rocky precipices. From the repeated destruc- 
tions of the city, the ruins, in immense piles, have been tumbled 
into these valleys, so as to cover up, in many places, the precip- 
itous ledges of rocks. The southern brow of Zion is very bold 
and prominent. The hight of the hill above the valley at the 
southwest corner of the city is one hundred and fifty feet; 
above the valley of Jehoshaphat, on the south, three hundred 
feet. 

Standing here on the hights of Zion, turning your face to the 
east, and looking along down the slope, you have before you 
the Tyropean valley, now so filled up with the accumulation 
of centuries of ruins, as scarcely to have the appearance of a 
valley. As an evidence of the accumulation of this mass of 
ruins, upon the very hill-top where we are now standing, when, 
some years since, the English church was built, they penetrated 
between forty and fifty feet of rubbish before they found the 
original soil. If such has been the accumulation upon the hill, 
what must it be in the valleys below! Looking beyond this 
valley and a little to the northward, the eye rests upon Mount 
Moriah, where the temple of Solomon once stood, its summit 
now crowned with a costly Moslem mosque. Beyond that still, 
to the east, is the deep valley of Jehoshaphat, with the brook 
Kidron and the Garden of Gethsemane; and beyond all these, 
rises the beautiful summit of the Mount of Olives. To the 
left, or northward, of where you stand, is Akra, and east of it, 
Bezetha, two other hills over which the city originally spread, 
and a part of which it still covers. Such is a hasty view of the 
position of the prominent localities of the city in which we 
now stand. 

Where the ancient walls stood, it is now impossible to tell. 



46 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Euin has been piled on ruin, and destruction, as we have seen, 
has followed destruction. The ancient city, according to Jose- 
phus, where it was not considered impregnable on account of its 
deep ravines, was fortified by three walls. These walls, how- 
ever, were built at different periods to inclose different portions 
of the city. The original city, as we have before said, covered 
this Mount Zion. As the city was enlarged, a wall was built 
around the x^oi'tioii that extended over Akra, and another 
around Bezetha. The city is now much smaller than in the 
days of Christ, but it is still encompassed by a very strong wall. 
This wall is just about two and a half miles in circumference, 
and very strongly- built. A variety of different stones are 
worked into it, indicating that the materials were quarried and 
chiseled in different ages of the world. Its average hight is 
about forty feet, its thickness from twelve to fifteen feet ; in 
some places, owing to the inequalities of the surface of the 
ground, it is much higher than in others ; the highest places 
being full seventy feet, while the lowest places are thirty to 
thirty-five feet. The present walls are supposed to have been 
built about 1542, occupying very nearly the same lines as those 
built by Hadrian. But probably every siege and pillage of the 
city has changed some portions of the walls. 

CASTLE or DAVID. 

Just at the right, as you enter Jaffa gate, is a celebrated 
tower, remarkable for its great strength and venerable antiqui- 
ty. It is called the tower of Hippicus, sometimes the " Tower 
of David," and by Mussulmen, the Castle of David. The 
lower part of it is built of massive stones, from nine to thirteen 
feet in length, and some of them more than four feet thick. 
These stones are cut mth a deep bevel round the edges, in- 
dicating their Jewish origin. The hight of this tower, above 
the present level of the fosse, is forty feet. It is built solid, and 
recent excavations show that for a considerable hight above the 
foundation, it is formed of the natural rock, hewn into shape 
and faced with stones. That this tower stood here in the days of 
Josephus, there is little doubt, and it is one of the towers saved 
by Titus, as a memorial of the almost impregnable strength of 




PLAN OF JERUSALEM AND ITS ENVIRONS. 



The inner wall or line denotes the present size of the city. The outer dotted line the walls of 
the ancient city. 1. Jaffa Gate. 2. Damascus Gate. 3. St. Stephen's Gate. 4. Zion Gate. 5. 
Tomb of David. 6. Lower Pool of Gihon. 7. Road to Bethlehem. 8. Hill of Evil Counsel. 9. 
Pottersfleld. 10. Pool of Siloam. 11. Fountain of the Virgin. 12. Village of Siloam. 13. An- 
cient Jewish Cemetery and Tombs of the Prophets. 14. Garden of Gethsemane. 15. Pool of 
Bethesda. 16. Gate Beautiful, or Golden Gate. 17. Jews' place of wailing. 18. Upper Pool of 
Gihon. A. Armenian Quarters. B. Christian Quarters. C. Jewish Quarters. D.Mohammedan 
Quarters. * Franciscan Convent, t Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 



BUILDINGS OF THE CITY. 



• 49 



the city he had captured. Some date its origin back even to 
the times of David. It seems strange to be looking upon struc- 
tures of such TTOnderful antiquity, and examining stones that 
might have been cut by the workmen of David or Solomon 
three thousand years ago. This tower or citadel has a dirty, 
neglected appearance, and is mounted by two or three pieces 
of antique looking ordnance, occasionally used in firing salutes. 
If you have a written order from the military commander of 
the city, you can ascend the tower. From the top you have a 
commanding view of the city, the best in fact that any position 
within the walls affords. From this elevation let us take a look 
at the different quarters of the city. 

THE CHRISTIAN QUARTERS. 

Take the accompanying plan of the city, and you will see first 
the parts marked A and B, covering portions of Zion and Akra. 
Here dwell the Christian population of the city, for though we 
have assigned a separate quarter to the Armenians, they may 
all be included in the Christian category, the Latins, or Eoman 
Catholics, and the Greeks having also their separate portions. 
To these may be added Georgians, Copts, Syrians, Protestants, 
and many other sects. There is here one of the most mixed 
and multifarious populations upon the face of the globe ; there 
is scarcely a sect, tribe or language but has its representative in 
Jerusalem. 

Among the prominent buildings and establishments located 
in this part of the city, belonging to the Armenians, may be 
enumerated the Armenian Convent, one of the largest estab- 
lishments in the city; the Armenian Church of St, James, a 
fine building, containing many gorgeous decorations of pic- 
tures and ornaments ; the Patriarchal Falace, a new and elegant 
building; the Armenian Hospitals; the Church of St. Thomas; 
Church of St. James the Less. 

In this portion of the city may also be found the Greek 
Convent of St. George; Syrian Convent and Church of St, Mark ; 
Church of the Crusaders; a Reading-room for Polish Jews; 
Chrisfs Church, or the Anglican Cathedral, to which is at- 
tached a large parcel of ground, containing gardens, various 



50 



THE HOLY LAND. 



offices, etc., the property of the London Jews' Society; a large 
and well conducted English Hospital; a Prussian Hospice, with 
a necessary supply of nurses and attendants; the Great Church 
of the Holy Sepulchre; Church and Convent of Gethsemane; Church 
and Convent of St. John the Forerunner; the Convent of Constan- 
tine; near this another Greek Church, a Greek Convent, Greek 
Nunnery, Archimandrite's Besidence, Nunnery and Alms-house of 
St. Basil. In other portions of this quarter we find the Convent 
of St. Theodore; Church of the Schismatics; Bussian Consulate; 
various school buildings ; a Copts Convent, and near it a French 
Hospital; Franciscan Convent, and various smaller establish- 
ments too numerous to mention. 

In the Jews' quarter, marked C, are several buildings of note, 
synagogues, schools, dispensaries, etc.; while the Mohammedan 
quarter, marked D, is distinguished by the prominent city offi- 
ces, Pasha's establishment, residence of the Military Governor, 
numerous mosques, residence of the Cadi, or Chief Justice, 
soldiers' barracks, Turkish hospital, several large bathing estab- 
lishments, etc. 

The Greek and Latin churches are by far the most numerous 
of any of the Christian sects in Jerusalem. Dr. Barclay makes 
the following estimate of their numbers : 

Greek Church — 1 Patriarch ; 1 Archimandrite ; 6 Bishops ; 
150 Priests; 90 Mms; 100 boys in training for the Priesthood; 

1 Theological, and 3 Common Schools; 12 Convents, with 12 
Churches attached; 1 Dispensary, with Physician and assist- 
ants. Total of membership, 2,250. 

The Latins — 1 Patriarch; 100 Priests ; 10 E'uns; 2 Churches; 

2 Convents; 2 Hospitals, with male and female Physicians; 1 
Alms-house ; 1 House of Hospitality ; 1 Printing establishment ; 
1 Theological Seminary ; 2 Common Schools. Total of mem- 
bers, 1,350. 

The Armenians, with two convents and churches, number 
464; other smaller sects, with 4 convents and several churches, 
number in all 204; Protestants about 250, making the Chris- 
tian population a little more than 4,500. 

All these sects, including also the ITestorians and Maronites, 
have chapels in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the great 



EELIGIOUS SECTS. 



51 



center of interest and attraction. The Latins and Greeks have 
also several thousand members in their various convents near 
the city, principally Arabs. Many of these establishments are 
richly endowed, and the numerous offerings of the faithful en- 
able them to deck their churches, chapels and altars with a 
gaudy display of wealth. 

The same writer we have quoted above gives us a particular 
account of the Protestant missions in Jerusalem. The most 
efficient and best sustained of these is the "English Episcopal 
Society for the Jews." Then there is the Church Missionary 
Society," and a "Lutheran Evangelical Department;" these all 
co-operate together. The American Christian Mission is for 
the present, I believe, suspended. The English Church Mission 
is well endowed and sustained. They have a splendid church 
edifice, now called "The Church of St. James," which, together 
with the consular residence attached, cost several hundred 
thousand dollars. The efforts of the Protestant missions in Je- 
rusalem have not been attended by any great results. There are 
so many obstacles in the way of these devoted Christian labor- 
ers, such an amount of prejudice and bitter opposition, such ' 
strong counteracting influences from the education, habits and 
associations of the people, progress must necessarily be very 
slow. Let us now turn and look at 

THE JEWISH QUARTER. 

This, on our plan of the city, is marked C, and lies along the 
east of Zion, and between that and Mount Moriah. Alas, son 
of Abraham, how heavily the curse has settled upon thee ! 

The number of Jews in Jerusalem it is difficult to tell, as no 
regular census of the inhabitants of the city is taken. The 
best informed estimate the number from six thousand to eight 
thousand. Of these there are two great sects. The Sejphardim 
are all of Spanish origin. Their language is a corrupt Spanish, 
very few of them speaking Arabic. Though subjects of the 
Sultan, they are allowed to live under their own rabbinical 
laws. Their chief rabbi is called "the Head in Zion," and 
his principal interpreter has a seat in the city council. Many 

4 



52 



THE HOLY LAND. 



among' them are very poor, and tliej are subjected to great 
privations. 

The Askenazim are of G-erman and Polish origin. These are 
all foreigners, and are under the government of the consular 
agents of their respective countries. They are said to be a 
worthless, indolent class of people, sustained principally from 
contributions from the Jews of Europe. From this source, it 
is said, each person among them, rich and poor, young and old, 
receives between seven and eight dollars annually. The effect 
of these charitable donations is to make those here more in- 
dolent, and to attract annually an increasing number of pau- 
pers to the place. Bad as their physical condition is, those best 
acquainted with them think their mental and moral condition 
still worse. "It is no wonder," says Dr. Barclay, "that these 
down-trodden out- casts of Israel are poor, illiterate and bigoted, 
for they are almost entirely disfranchised and constantly mal- 
treated, not only by their Turkish masters, but by those styling 
themselves Christians and philanthropists. Even in this year 
of grace, 1857, it would cost any Jew in Jerusalem his life to 
venture into the so-called Church of the Holy Sepulchre, or 
within even what was once the outer court of his beloved 
Temple!" 

The same writer also says : " The present condition of the 
Jews in Jerusalem is precisely what it is represented to have 
been by Hanani, when ^^ehemiah attempted its restoration. 
' The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the prov- 
ince are in great affliction and reproach,' and their case is well 
calculated to produce upon us the same effect it did upon the 
pious old Eeformer, when he sat down, mourned and wept cer- 
tain-days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven! 
But, alas ! how few there are that sigh and cry for all the abom- 
inations that be done in the midst thereof! Who shall have 
pity on thee, 0, Jerusalem ? or who shall bemoan thee ? or who 
shall go aside to ask how doest thou ? " 

MOHAMMEDAN QUARTER. 

"Eovj- turn and cast your eye over the northeastern portion 
of the city, marked D. Here the followers of the Prophet con- 



CONSTRUCTION OF THE HOUSES. 53 

gregate. Here the lordly Turk and the servile Arab find a 
home. The Mohammedans probably number some four to five 
thousand, and are mostly natives of Syria. The officers and 
soldiers are mostly Turkish foreigners. They have, within the 
walls and near by, eleven mosques. The old temple area on 
Moriah, called the Haram, is their most holy place; a strict 
guard is kept around it to prevent the intrusion of infidels, and 
a large number of derwishees connected with it live in idleness 
on its ample revenues. 

'Now here we have stood on this old Castle of David, till the 
sun is settling behind yonder hills of Judah, and night is rapid- 
ly closing upon us. We must get back to our convent home 
before dark, for Jerusalem is a dreary place in the night. The 
streets are narrow and very roughly paved. The houses are 
mostly built of stone — a kind of cream-colored limestone — two, 
and often three stories higb. The fronts are generally plain, 
the roofs flat and covered with a hard cement, and often sur- 
mounted by a dome, and surrounded by a balustrade. There 
are so very few trees in Palestine, all kinds of wood is very ex- 
pensive and is seldom used in their buildings, except for case- 
ments to the doors and windows. The floors are generally of 
cement or stone, and the roofs of cement or tiles. This scarci- 
ty of timber gives rise to the construction of numerous arches, 
crypts, vaults and domes in the erection of their buildings. 
The dwelling apartments are generally in the upper stories, the 
lower ones, as in Cairo, are mostly occupied as lumber-rooms, 
stables and receptacles' for rubbish of all kinds, and where vari- 
ous tribes of vermin, especially fleas, multiply in countless 
swarms. There are no gas-lights to cheer the narrow thorough- 
fares ; the houses seldom have windows next the streets ; where 
there are any, if they are large enough to admit a thief, they 
are grated with iron like a prison. It is quite recently that 
window glass has been introduced into a few bouses of the 
better class. The numerous shops and bazars are all closed at 
nightfall, and the law enjoins the police to arrest any one found 
on the streets after dark, unless he carries a lantern. Few peo- 
ple are out in the evening ; all business seems to be suspended, 
and darkness envelops the city. 



54 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Here we are at the gate of our " Pilgrims' Home." Supper 
is not quite ready, and the last rays of the departing sun are 
lingering upon the top of Olivet ; let us go up a few minutes 
upon the house-top. The cemented roof is as clean as a house 
floor, and inclining only at a slight angle to allow the water to 
run ofl". A parapet about breast high encircles it, to prevent all 
danger of falling. This is an ancient practice, and so import- 
ant for safety a special law concerning it was given to the an- 
cint Israelites. " When thou buildest a new house, then thou 
shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood 
upon thine house if any man fall from thence." Deut. xxii 8. 
These flat roofs are very convenient, and are used for a great 
variety of purposes. Here the stalks of flax are often spread, 
to undergo the process of rotting, and here the dressed flax is 
often laid to be bleached. It was in this way that Eahab con- 
cealed the spices J oshua sent to Jericho ; she " brought them 
up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of 
flax which she had laid in order upon the roof." Here they 
stretch their lines and hang their clothes to dry; here they 
come with their neighbors to hold social converse ; and here is 
often found a place for retirement and prayer. Of this we 
have an illustration now before us, for there on yonder side of 
the roof is a priest with his Bible in his hand, walking leisurely 
back and forth, engaged in devout meditation, reminding one 
of Peter when he went upon the house-top to pray. Here, too, 
the people frequently, in the heat of summer, come up to sleep, 
sometimes spreading their couch in the open air, sometimes 
erecting small booths of green boughs, an allusion to which is 
found in l^ehemiah viii. 9. These booths I often saw upon the 
tops of the houses. What a pleasant place of resort this house- 
top will be during our stay in the city. What a delightful 
prospect we shall have from it ! Here we can look out upon 
Zion, Calvary, Gethsemane and Olivet. How we shall delight 
to come up and spend the twilight hours, and hold communion 
with Him who has hallowed these places, and made them sacred 
by the intimacy of his associations with them ! 

And now we have seen the city as it is, and are prepared to 
continue our walks about it. What a strange interest it has to 



THINGS IN JERUSALEM. 



55 



all classes of persons ! The Mohammedan esteems it ; to him 
it is for sanctity the third city of the world — Medina and Mec- 
ca only are placed before it. To the Jew and the Christian it 
stands unrivaled ; and one would think from the eagerness with 
which all religions congregate here, it was this Jerusalem, and 
not the one that is above, that, as Paul says, is the mother of us 
all. But there is our bell. Let us seek refreshment of food 
and rest. To-morrow we will have a ramble among the places 
most intimately connected with the history of our Savior. 

SPARROWS. 

Sleep, with gentle hand and strange, soothing skill, has re- 
lieved the weariness of our toil, and the jocund morning in- 
vites us to renew our rambles. Upon stepping from my room, 
one of the first things that attracted my attention was the 
countless multitude of sparrows that filled the air with the 
harsh music of their incessant chirping. They gather upon 
the house-tops, and find a home in the crevices of the walls, 
and impudently flutter about the doors and windows. I sup- 
pose they were just as numerous in the days of the Savior, 
when he says that five of them were, sold for two farthings; 
yet insignificant and worthless as they comparatively were, 
God took care of them, and would much more take care of his 
children. Though they are a lively, cheerful race of birds, oc- 
casionally you may see one that has lost his mate. He sits 
perched alone upon some part of the building, and in mournful 
notes, makes known his sad bereavement. This, I suppose, is 
where David got his striking illustration of his sorrow: ''I 
watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house-top." 



56 



THE HOLY LAND. 



CHAPTER III. 

Eambles in Jerusalem — Mount Zion — Valley of Hinnom — 
Hills and Tombs. 

I FOUND in the city two clergymen from E"ew York city, Eev. 
Mr. E'ewman and Eev. Mr. Williams, in company with two 
English clergymen, and we were soon after joined by six other 
clergymen from England and Scotland. Our association with 
these gentlemen added very much to the interest of our excur- 
sions about the city. At this time Dr. Barclay also arrived in 
the city from Jaffa. I presented my letter of introduction, and 
was cordially received by the Doctor and his excellent lady, 
who accompanied him. It was, indeed, a great and unexpected 
privilege to have the advice and instruction of one so intimate- 
ly acquainted with the Holy City, and by whom every nook 
and corner of it had been explored. I wish here publicly to 
express my acknowledgments for the assistance received from 
him while in the city, and my indebtedness for the information 
I have derived from his elaborate book — " The City of the Great 
King." The Doctor not being specially engaged, kindly offered 
to honor our draft for any amount of time we might demand, 
in conducting: us to the interesting localities about the city. 
What better cicerone could we wish for ? His offer was so cor- 
dially and cheerfully made, as to leave no doubt of its sinceri- 
ty, and we did not hesitate to avail ourselves of the privilege. 
So the reader will understand that in most of the places to 
which we are now about to take him, we had the advantage of 
the information that one who had spent twenty years in Jeru- 
salem and its vicinity was able to impart. "With Dr. Barclay, 
then, for a guide and interpreter, let us take a walk about Zion. 



STEEETS AND CONVEYANCES. 57 

What narrow, crooked, miserable streets for so large a city ! 
The houses are not numbered, and it is only recently that a few 
of the principal streets have received names. These names are 
highly suggestive of the days of olden time ; thus we have the 
Street of Mount Zion; Street of the Patriarchs ; Street of David, etc. 
The average width of these streets is not more than ten feet, 
many of them not more than half that breadth, and most of 
the public thoroughfares, where the bazars are situated, and a 
great part of the business done, and where thousands daily 
pass, are not more than twelve to fifteen feet wide. The main 
streets are said to be paved, but this paving is made of stones 
of all sizes and shapes carelessly imbedded in the soil, the sides 
raised a foot or so, and a trench left through the middle. How, 
you. ask, can they manage to do their business in such misera- 
ble thoroughfares? First, they have no carriages to block up 
their streets. I did not see a wheeled vehicle while I was in 
Jerusalem — no, not so much as a wheel-barrow! They use 
camels, horses, mules and donkeys. Every thing is carried 
upon the backs of animals. Sometimes a huge camel, with a 
back-load of brush, or great packages of hay or grass, will at- 
tempt to pass through these narrow avenues, filling it from side 
to side, often creating severe contests for the right of way. 
Then, again, comparatively few women are seen in the streets, 
and those few adhere to the time-honored customs of dress 
that have come down from the days of Sarah and Rachael. 
When the modern European fashions are introduced among 
the ladies here, and crinoline gains the ascendency, there will 
be an end of business in the streets of Jerusalem. Taking the 
street of David, a few minutes' walk will bring us to 

THE JAFFA GATE . 

This the Arabs call Bab el Khalil, " Gate of a Friend'' — that 
is, Abraham — or the Friend of God. A httle to the right, as 
you approach this gate, are large heaps of old ruins ; from some 
of the mounds the great stones are still protruding, and many 
of them are completely covered by the rank grass and weeds. 
"What buildings once covered this ground none can now tell. 
What uncounted years may have measured the period of their 



58 



THE HOLY LAjS^D. 



destruction who can know? Leaving Jaffa Gate to the right, 
let us pass along the ascending slope, and again we are on 
Mount Zion. ITow take the plan of Jerusalem found on page 
48, and I will point out to you the localities as we proceed. 
Let us ascend the city wall and walk along the top. You see 
there is a broad terrace near the top wide enough for two or 
three persons to walk abreast, while upon the outside a parapet 
rises as high as your head, that will not only prevent your fall- 
ing in that direction, but is also pierced with loop-holes through 
which guns can be pointed in case of an attack. At conveni- 
ent distances along the walls towers are erected, and embrasures 
constructed, and in these widenings in the walls you will some- 
times find small chambers, now generally in a dirty, neglected 
condition, but in times of danger used, I suppose, by the guards 
upon the wall. 

How strange it seems to be thus walking along the walls of 
this ancient city ! How forcibly we are reminded of the words 
of the Psalmist : " Walk about Zion, and go round about her ; 
tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider 
her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generations following." 
Standing here upon the west wall of the city, you may look 
down into the valley of Hinnom, as it comes winding round 
from the south. This valley, as it bends away to the westward, 
takes the name of Gihon ; and there, just near us, 'No, 6, is 

THE LOWER POOL OF GIHON. 

The Upper Pool lies higher up the valley, a little above No. 
18. This Upper Pool is seven hundred yards from Jaffa Gate. 
From this pool the course of the valley is southeast for six 
/hundred and thirty yards to the bend opposite the J affa Gate. 
Here the breadth of the valley is one hundred yards, and its 
depth forty-four feet. Prom this bend it runs nearly south for 
a short distance, having Zion on one side and a rocky acclivity 
on the other. About two hundred and ninety yards from the 
southern bend the arched acqueduct from Solomon's Pools 
crosses it ; seventy-three yards lower down is the Lower Pool of 
Gihon. Kear it a path runs across the valley, leading to the 
Bethlehem and Hebron road. 



POOLS AND KESEEYOIES. 



59 



These two reservoirs are undoubtedly of great antiquity, and 
many interesting allusions are made to them, and many inter- 
esting facts connected with them. The Upper Pool is three 
hundred feet long, two hundred feet wide, and twenty feet 
deep ; the lower one is six hundred feet long, two hundred and 
fifty feet broad, and forty feet deep — immense reservoirs, capa- 
ble of holding water for thousands of people. The Bible has 
several notices of these ancient pools. The Prophet Isaiah was 
commanded by God to go forth and meet Ahaz " at the end of 
the conduit of the Upper Pool, in the highway of the Fuller's 
Field." Is. vii. 3. At the same place Eabshakeh stood when 
he delivered the royal message of his imperious master, the 
King of Assyria, to the messengers of Hezekiah. The story is 
an instructive one, and may be read in the 36th and 37th chap- 
ters of Isaiah. 

We are also informed in 2d Chron. xxxii. 30, that Hezekiah 
stopped the upper outSow of the w^aters of Gihon, and brought 
it down to the west side of the city of David (Zion)," In con- 
firmation of this, on the east slope of Zion, near the Greek con- 
vent, and directly behind Hauser's European Hotel, is what is 
now called 

THE FOUNTAIN OF HEZEKIAH. 

I went up on one occasion with my friend Herrick to exam- 
ine it. It is an immense reservoir, two hundred and forty feet 
long and one hundred and forty-four feet wide. The bottom 
is formed of the natural rock, leveled and cemented. This res- 
ervoir is now known to be supplied with water by a small aque- 
duct from the Upper Pool of Gihon. There are several other 
allusions to Hezekiah's improvements in these water-courses. 
It is said, "he made a pool and conduit and brought water into 
the city." When the King of Assyria came up to besiege Jeru- 
salem, Hezekiah took counsel with his princes and his migh- 
ty men, to stop the waters of the foutains that were without the 
city. So there was gathered much people together who stopped 
all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of 
the land, saying : Why should the King of Assyria come and 
find much water?" What was done with these waters, the 



60 



THE HOLY LAND. 



course of whicli was thus stopped or turned? Many evidences 
conspire to show that these waters were brought by subterra- 
nean passages into the city. In confirmation of this, it is said, 
that when excavations were made for the foundations of the 
English church, more than twenty feet below the surface the 
workmen came upon a vaulted chamber of fine masonry in a 
perfect state, resting upon a foundatioa of rock. Within it 
were steps leading down to a solid mass of stone-work covering 
an immense conduit, partly hewn out of the solid rock, and 
partly built with even courses of masonry, and lined and ce- 
mented an inch thick. The architect traced it eastward more 
than two hundred feet. Apertures opened into it at intervals 
from above, and the bottom was so nearly level that water 
would always lie upon it to such a depth as to enable people to 
draw with a bucket and line. May not this, says the narrator, 
be the conduit by which Hezekiah brought the water of the 
fountain of Gihon to the west side of the city of David ? But we 
must leave these pools. It seems strange to be loitering about 
these places, and pondering over these events in which Isaiah 
and Hezekiah took a part nearly two thousand five hundred 
years ago. Let us now pass along westward towards Zion Gate. 
We may now notice another remarkable 

FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY. 

Several portions of the city here have not only been utterly 
destroyed, but have not been rebuilt. Here, just where we are 
now walking, and within the walls, are several large patches 
of ground upon which the barley and wheat are now growing. 
But a few weeks since the plow passed over that ground, and 
the seed was scattered upon the furrowed soil ; and close by it 
are great mounds of ruins covered with vegetation. 'Now open 
V your Bible and turn to Micah, 3d chapter and 12th verse, and 
tell me who taught him more than two thousand years ago to 
say : " Therefore shall Zion be plowed as a field, and Jerusa- 
lem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the 
high places of the forests ? " Whose Handwriting can you read 
in these cultivated fields of Zion ? and who has left there the 
impi^ss of his unchanging word ? Before you pass out of the 



WALKS IN JEEUSALEM. 



61 



gate, if you have strong nerves, you may step down the side- 
hill a little to the east and look into 

THE HUTS OF THE LEPERS. 

Anciently, they were not allowed inside the gates, but the 
laws of ceremonial uncleanness have passed away, and they are 
now allowed to have their quarters inside the inclosure, though 
still separated from the other houses by a low wall. You do 
not often see any of them inside the city, but you may meet 
little squads of them almost any day about Zion and Jaffa 
Gates. They never approach very near you, but sit or stand at 
a respectful distance, and beg most piteously for alms. They 
are still, as in ancient days, considered unclean, and are shunned, 
not only for their loathsome appearance, but by many for fear 
of the contagion. The most that are now found in the land 
are congregated at Jerusalem and ]!!^abulous ; a few are found 
about other cities, and, in many cases, they are forbidden to 
enter within the gates. 

One who has drawn his ideas of this horrible disease only 
from the Bible, and from the manner in which it was anciently 
regarded, feels strange sensations when he first comes in con- 
tact with it. The first I saw of it was among a crowd of beg- 
gars sitting by the road-side near the Jafla Gate. There were 
about a dozen of them together, and as I approached them they 
began in strange, piteous cries and wails, a supplication for alms. 
They are generally miserably clad, and often frightfully dis- 
torted from the influence of the disease. The disease preys 
upon all parts of the system ; sometimes the face is swollen and 
misshapen; the eye-brows and eye-lashes have fallen off; ears, 
chins and noses are missing ; the palate, perhaps, has been eaten 
out and the voice is strangely affected. Sometimes the nails 
loosen and drop off, and joint after joint of the fingers and toes 
dry up and disappear, and all kinds of hideous deformities dis- 
gust the spectator. The disease is hereditary, and strange as it 
may seem, these disgusting specimens of humanity intermarry, 
and perpetuate their awful and mysterious disease among their 
offspring. It is this disease that is made in the word of God a 
striking symbol of man's moral leprosy — the fearful workings 



62 



THE HOLY LAND. 



of sin in the moral constitution — a disease that none but God 
can cure. 

RUINS OP AN ANCIENT BRIDGE. 

"While in this part of the city, Dr. Barclay called our atten- 
tion to the remains of an old bridge or causeway that once 
crossed the Tyropean, connecting Mount Zion with Mount Mo- 
riah. This ancient structure has almost entirely disappeared, 
but on the Moriah side, where it united with the temple wall, a 
portion of an arch is still to be seen, sufficient to show the na- 
ture and probable size of the structure. The span of this ru- 
ined arch must have been about forty-one feet. The Doctor 
calculates there must have been five of these arches to cross the 
valley, and as an immense heft of stone was to be supported, 
these arches were of enormous strength. Some of the stones 
now seen in the ruins are nearly six feet thick, and from twenty 
to twenty-five feet long. 

This is the bridge supposed to be mentioned by Josephus, the 
construction of which is ascribed to Solomon. The only objec- 
tion that has been raised to this is, that the arch was unknown 
in the days of Solomon ; but recent discoveries show conclu- 
sively that the arch and the keystone were as well known in 
the days of Solomon as in modern times. 

This is also supposed to be the wonderful ascent to the House 
of the Lord, that so astonished the Queen of Sheba, when she 
came to Jerusalem to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and to see 
his mighty works. It seemed strange, indeed, to be standing 
upon the ruins of structures that were a thousand years old 
when Christ walked the streets of Jerusalem; to be ranging 
over the ground where Solomon walked with the renowned 
queen, who came to him with all the pomp and splendor and 
magnificent retinue of an Eastern court, only to be overcome 
with a transport of astonishment at the astounding exhibition 
of wealth and the impressive displays of wisdom she saw 
around her. Surely, the hoary stamp of age is on these ruins, 
and they are eloquent with the lessons of the past! 

Returning to the summit of Zion, and passing out of Zion 
Gate, we reached the supposed resting place of David, Israel's 



THE TOMB OF DAVID. 



63 



king, 'No. 5. The place is a little down the southern slope of 
Zion, and is covered by a pile of buildings from which rises a 
conspicuous minaret, one of the most imposing objects seen on 
this side of the city. This place, in the estimation of its Mo- 
hammedan owners, is one of the most sacred localities in all EI 
Khuds (the Holy). The first time I undertook to approach it 
in company with my friend, a hyena-looking dog chased us 
from the premises, and the Christian-hating loungers about the 
place, instead of preventing it, we thought hissed him on. To- 
day we have a respectable number in our company, and with 
Dr. Barclay to conduct us, shall get admittance to such portions 
of the building as Franks are allowed to visit. We first enter 

THE C(ENAOULUM, 

Or dining-room — a large upper room, so called because it is 
said to be the place where Jesus held his last supper with his 
disciples, ate with them the passover, and instituted the memo- 
rial feast in remembrance of his bruised and broken body and 
flowing blood. The room is fifty feet long and thirty feet wide — ■ 
" he will show you," said the Savior, a large upper room.'^ That 
this room is very ancient none can question, and may, perhaps, 
says one, be the same — the site is unquestionably the same—re- 
ferred to by Cyril, Bishop of J erusalem, in the middle of the 
fourth century, as the place in which the apostles were assem- 
bled on the day of Pentecost, when they received the gift of 
the Holy Spirit. Epiphanius, towards the close of the same 
century, states that this building, with a few others near it, es- 
caped destruction when Titus overthrew the city. 

On this Mount Zion, Christ ate the last supper with his dis- 
ciples. From that interview he went out with them to go down 
into the garden of Gethsemane, from thence to be taken to the 
Hall of Pilate and the Cross of Calvary. On this mount the 
Spirit was poured out, and Peter preached on that memorable 
occasion, when three thousand converts were added to their 
number. Was this the room in which these wonderful events 
connected with the infancy of the Redeemer's kingdom trans- 
pired? It seems scarcely credible, and yet many here believe 
it to be so. If so, there was a depth of meaning in those words 



64 



THE HOLY LAND. 



of Peter, as he rehearsed the history of the past in that mem- 
orable sermon : " Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto 
you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, 
and Ms sepulchre is with us unto this day." Acts ii. 29. 

THE SEPULCHRE. 

Beneath this Coenaculum, m the deep, rock-hewn vault, they 
say David's remains were laid. But is there any certainty," I 
hear you ask, "that his tomb is here?" We know it was cus- 
tomary to have tombs hewn in the rocks, and the royal sepul- 
chres were undoubtedly cut at great expense, and would not be 
places likely, soon, if ever, to be destroyed. That David and 
other succeeding monarchs were buried on Mount Zion, is a 
plainly attested fact in the word of God. His tomb appears to 
have been well known in the days of Josephus, for that histo- 
rian says that Solomon buried David with great pomp, and 
placed immense treasures along with his body in the tomb. 
These, we are informed, remained undisturbed until the time of 
Hyrcanus, the son of Simon Maccabeus, who, being besieged 
by Antiochus Pius, and wishing to give him money to raise the 
siege, opened one room of David's sepulchre and took out three 
thousand talents. It is said the tomb was again opened and 
plundered by Herod the Great, who was disappointed at not 
finding more money, and consequently made an attempt to 
penetrate as far as the bodies, but, the account continues, "two 
of his guards were killed by a fiame that burst out upon them," 
and the sacrilegious purpose was abandoned. These tombs be- 
ing known at so late a period, the knowledge of the site would 
not be likely to have since been lost. 

And now would you like to go down and stand within the 
rock-hewn chamber, and look upon the place where the great 
monarch and sweet singer found at last a quiet place of re- 
pose ? It would, indeed, repay the labor of a long pilgrimage, 
thus to stand in the sepulchre of David ; but alas ! we cannot 
go. You can come into these upper rooms, and wander through 
these chambers, but the sepulchre beneath, like the Dome of 
the Eock, and the Cave of Machpelah, is one of those sacred 
places that the Moslem regards with such superstitious awe and 



THE TOMB or DAVID. 



65 



bigoted reverence, that he has not only placed the barrier of a 
rigid law, but loaded muskets and fixed bayonets between it 
and the Jew or the Christian, that it may no more be polluted 
by the presence of either. The potent power of backsheesh 
even loses all its magic charms. Stand back, you cannot enter. 
It does arouse a little of the vindictive feelings of one's nature, 
to come thousands of miles to visit the homes and tombs of 
patriarchs and prophets, and then, when you approach some 
consecrated spot, have a liveried soldier thrust his gleaming 
bayonet at you, and warn you off, simply because he hates the 
man that does not love his Prophet. 

But has any one ever visited the tomb who could give us a 
description of it? Dr. Barclay's daughter is, I believe, the only 
Christian that, for a long series of years, has found admittance 
to the holy of holies of this Moslem sanctuary. The story is 
too long to repeat here ; the Doctor has given it at length in 
his elaborate work, "The City of the Great King." It was 
through the connivance of a Moslem lady connected with the 
guard of the tomb, and was stealthily and hastily accomplished 
one Friday noon, during a season of special prayer at the great 
Mosque of Omar, held by order of the Sultan. Disguised in 
the costume of a Moslem lady, she was conducted to the sacred 
inclosure, and has given us the following description : 

'"Ttie room is insignificant in its dimensions, but is furnislied very gorgeously. 
The tomb is apparently an immense sarcophagus of rough stone, and is covered 
by green satin tapestry, richly embroidered with gold. To this a piece of black 
velvet is attached, with a few inscriptions from the Koran, embroidered also in 
gold. A satin canopy of red, blue, green and yellow stripes hangs over the tomb, 
and another piece of black velvet tapestry, embroidered in silver, covers a door in 
one end of the room, which they said, leads to a cave underneath. Two tall silver 
candlesticks stand before this door, and a little lamp hangs in a window near it, 
which is kept constantly burning, and whose wick, though saturated with oH — and 
I dare say a most nauseous dose — my devotional companion eagerly swallowed, 
muttering to herself a prayer with many a genuflection. She then, in addition to 
their usual forms of prayer, prostrated herself before the tomb, raised the cover- 
ing, pressed her forehead to the stone, and then kissed it many times. The ceil- 
ing of the room is vaulted, and the walls covered in blue porcelain, in floral fig- 
ures. Having remained here an hour or more and completed my sketch, we left ; 
and great was my rejoicing when I found myself once more at home, out of dan- 
ger, and stiU better, out of my awkward costume.'' 



66 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Whether this is the real tomb of David or not raay be ques- 
tioned ; but when we consider the fact that it must have been 
in this immediate vicinity, was known in the days of the apos- 
tles, was known to Josephus, and was a spot that Jew, Chris- 
tian and Mussulman alike have reverenced, it seems hardly 
probable the locality would ever have been lost. If this is the 
place, then are we indeed standing upon consecrated ground, 
and beneath us repose the ashes of one whose royal palace 
adorned this hill-top, whose fame brightens the pages of sacred 
history, and whose spiritual songs will continue to inspire the 
warm devotions of the pious heart through all coming time ! 

A little to the north of the Tomb of David is pointed out 
another small building, which tradition fixes as the spot where 
Mary, the mother of Jesus, spent the last years of her life. 
I^ear by, we are also shown 

THE PALACE OF CAIPHAS. 

This is the reputed place where the council of scribes, elders 
and priests met by order of Caiphas, the High-priest, for the 
trial of Jesus. Some say this is not the building, but that this 
structure was erected at a very early period of the Christian 
era on the site of the high-priest's palace. This pile of build- 
ings, now a church and a convent, is owned by the Armenians, 
and was once known as the church of St. Salvator. We had 
been told there were some curious relics of antiquity here, and 
slipping a backsheesh into the hand of an old monk, he opened 
the door for us. We were first taken to the altar of the church, 
beneath which our devout guide reverently uncovered a large 
stone slab set into the wall, a portion of the flat side visible, 
which he solemnly assured us — and I have no doubt but he be- 
lieved it — was the veritable stone that covered the tomb of Jesus, 
that was removed by the angel, and on which he sat when the 
women came to the sepulchre on the morning of the resurrec- 
tion. As that stone has been taken away from the sepulchre, 
and is not known any where else, we had no means of disprov- 
ing the assertion; so passing our hand over the surface, and 
casting an earnest, though I confess a somewhat incredulous 
look at it, we passed on. We were next taken into a little 



THE AKMENIAN COISrVENT. 



67 



room, now highly decorated with pictures and ornaments, and 
were gravely informed that this was the prison in which Jesus 
was confined during the night in which he was arrested and 
put on trial for his life. As we were shown another prison in 
another part of Jerusalem, said to have been used on the same 
occasion and for the same purpose, we, of course, had a right 
to be skeptical in regard to both of them. But " I understand," 
said I, " you can show us here 

THE COCK THAT CREW 

When Peter denied his Lord." " 0, yes, we can show him," 
said our monkish guide; but I thought I discovered a little 
twinkle of humor about his eye struggling for ascendency over 
the devout and reverend mien into which, from long habit, his 
features had settled. Following him to a side of the room, 
he drew aside a curtain that concealed, hanging upon the wall, 
the picture of a sorry-looking game-cock. The work had, 
most assuredly, been executed by an apprentice hand, and the 
plumage looked as if it had been ruffled in a fight and smoothed 
in a rain-storm. Then that is the cock? " said one of our com- 
pany, somewhat inquiringly. "To be sure it is," said the ex- 
hibitor. "But that is only a picture." "Sure it is a picture 
of him ; you did n't expect to see the live rooster, did you ? He 
would be a pretty old bird to live to this time." A burst of 
laughter from the whole company followed this denouement, 
in which our sedate conductor joined with apparently great 
satisfaction. Having satisfied our curiosity, with the image of 
that "rooster" daguerreotyped upon our minds, we passed on. 
This building is also a cemetery of the Armenian Patriarchs. 
Deposited in the walls, and beneath the marble slabs of the 
floors and the courts, molders the dust of many a once honored 
ecclesiastic. What contrasts we meet on this hill of Zion ! From 
the monarchs of Israel, the high-priests of the law, and the dig- 
nitaries of the church, to the miserable lepers in their poverty, 
death here has done his work, and on the cold breast of the 
silent grave high and low alike repose. 

On this portion of Mount Zion are several other cemeteries. 

Here is a large Armenian burying-ground. The graves are dis- 
5 



68 



THE HOLY LAND. 



tinguishecl by being a little elevated, and covered by a flat slab. 
On the slab was generally chiseled the name of the person, ac- 
companied by the emblems of his trade or profession — if a 
blacksmith, an anvil and hammer; if a shoe-maker, an awl 
and last, and so on through an almost endless variety of de- 
vices. Here, too, is an English burying-ground, and near by it 
is a little plat of ground, recently purchased, surrounded by a 
high stone wall, and the entrance secured by a strong gate, con- 
secrated as a burial-place for Americans dying at Jerusalem. 
I climbed upon the wall and looked into the inclosure. Only 
two or three graves had yet been opened ; a thick mat of grass 
covered the ground, and one solitary tree cast its shadow upon 
the spot. Just on the opposite side of the valley is an English 
mission-house, where one of our countrymen, a Mr. Roberts, 
who had been employed as a tract distributor and missionary, 
lay sick. His disease was consumption, and there were no hopes 
of his recovery. Some of our company visited him occasion- 
ally, read the Bible for him, and prayed with him. We also 
made him a contribution of funds through the American Con- 
sul, as we understood he was in destitute circumstances. Soon 
after we left we learned of his death, and a fresh mound has 
been added to the little number embraced in the inclosure. It 
seemed sad to die so far from one's native land, home and kin- 
dred ; but it was a pleasant thought that even here the sick 
could be reached by the sympathy of kind hearts, the dying 
hour be cheered, and a secure and quiet resting-place for the 
dead be found. We now passed down the southern acclivity of 
Zion into 

THE RENOWNED VALLEY OF HINNOM. 

This is called in the Bible Valley of the Son of Hinnom," 
and in the Hebrew Ge Hinnom. The Arabs call it Wady Je- 
henam, which is evidently the Hebrew name transferred to 
their language. In this valley, as we proceed, we shall find the 
Gehenna and Tophet of scripture. An ancient allusion to this 
valley is important, as it fixes the boundary line between Judah 
and Benjamin. In Joshua it is said : "And the border passed 
towards the waters of Enshemesh, and the goings out thereof 



VALLEY OF HINNOM. 



69 



>vere at En-Rogel" — now the well of Joab at the junction of 
the Hinnom and Keclron — '^ancl the border went up by the val- 
ley of the Son of Hinnom unto the south side of the Jebusite ; 
the same is Jerusalem; and the border went up to the top of 
the mountain that lieth before the valley of Hinnom westward, 
which is at the end of the valley of Rephaim (Giants) north- 
ward." A piece of more careful and minute topography, says 
one, than is here given, could scarcely be imagined. So accu- 
rately is this line defined by these natural boundaries, that one 
would have no more difficulty in tracing it now than near thir- 
ty-five hundred years ago, when the boundaries of the tribes 
were first located. As we came down into the valley turning 
eastward, we had upon our right 'No. 8, 

THE HILL OF EVIL COUNCIL. 

It is so called from a tradition that the residence of Caiphas 
was located upon its summit, and that here the chief priests and 
scribes assembled together to take council against Jesus. Upon 
the top of it are still seen the ruins of some large structure, 
supposed to have been a Christian convent. In one corner of 
this old ruin is an oratory, or place of prayer, held in great yqy- 
evence hj the faithfuV About one hundred yards from this 
stands a solitary, ill-shapen tree, a large limb bending over and 
forming so convenient a place for a gallows, it has obtained the 
name of " Judas tree." This hill, or mountain as it might be 
called, rises to the hight of about five hundred feet above the 
Pool of Siloam, near the lower part of the valley. It was here 
that Pompey encamped when he laid siege to Jerusalem about 
sixty-three years B. C. Between this hill and the high ridge 
to the left of it, passes the road that leads to Bethlehem, 'No 7. 

We now pass along down the valley in an easterly direction. 
I find in Murray's Guide-Book the following measurements from 
place to place in the valley. It commences on the west of the 
city, its upper part resembling a large shallow basin, in the 
center of which, seven hundred yards from the Jaffa Gate, is the 
Upper Pool or Gihon. From this pool its course is nearly 
southeast, six hundred and thirty yards to the bend opposite 
Jaffa Gate, where its breadth is about one hundred va^^^"'^ ^^^^ 



70 



THE HOLY LAND. 



its depth forty-four feet. It now turns south between Zion on 
one side and a rocky acclivity on the other, and at two hun- 
dred and ninety yards is crossed by the arched aqueduct from 
Solomon's Pools. At seventy-three yards further is the Lower 
Pool of Gihon, now called Birket es Sultan. This is directly 
below the southwestern angle of the city wall, which forms a 
fine object over head, crowning the steep brow of Zion. At 
one hundred and forty yards below the pool, the valley again 
turns eastward, continuing about the same breadth, but increas- 
ing rapidly in depth. The bottom of the valley is covered with 
loose stones; still it is cultivated, and many portions of it 
abound with olive trees. Towards the lower end it continues 
to widen, and unites with the Kidron or Yalley of Jehoshaphat 
nine hundred and twenty-two yards below the last bend. The 
valley is a place of 

TOMBS AND SEPULCHRES. 

We have seen the tomb of David, and other tombs on the 
northern side of the valley, high up the side of Zion. All along 
the southern side of the valley is a steep, rocky ledge, and mul- 
titudes of tombs have been cut and carved along its entire sur- 
face. They are of various shapes and sizes, most of them 
plainly constructed, some of them dug far into the hill-side. 
Many of them have now been entirely destroyed. In erecting 
some of the modern convents, the builders found it a very easy 
way of quarrying stones to put a quantity of powder into one 
of these rocky excavations and apply a slow-match. The ex- 
plosion would produce for them a mass of stone already squared 
upon one side ready for their walls. Many portions of these 
old tombs still remaining, give evidence of the explosive power 
to which they have thus been subjected. In one place in the 
upper part of the valley, our attention was called to a large 
portion of the rock, graded and smoothed, level as a house floor. 
This was an ancient threshing-floor, precisely such, I suppose, 
as Araunah, the Jebusite, had on Mount Moriah. As you ap- 
proach the Kidron, Hinnom rapidly deepens into a gloomy dell. 
It is a wild, dismal, looking place. The south side rises high 
above your head in an irregular frowning cliflT. In this deep, 



WALKS ABOUT JEKUSALEM. 



71 



rocky precipice just above the junction of the two vaUeys, 'No. 
9, tradition locates 

ACELDAMA, ''THE FIELD OF BLOOD." 

How vividly, as I gazed upon it, it brought to my mind that 
fearful night in the life of the Savior, when J udas, in company 
with the priests, balanced thirty pieces of silver against the 
blood of his master. " This man purchased a field with the re- 
ward of iniquity, and falling dowm in the midst thereof, all his 
bowels gushed out." As we looked up to that fearful precipice 
above us, we were almost persuaded to think that this was re- 
ally the scene of that awful tragedy — that on some projecting 
limb upon the top of yonder hight, the conscience-smitten Ju- 
das suspended himself, and from his frail and broken rope came 
tumbling down these fearful hights. Indeed, it is the opinion 
of some best acquainted with localities here, that this was real- 
ly the place where that apostate met his fate. 

This whole cliff is full of tombs. The rock has been cut out 
and penetrated in all directions. Portions of the front of Acel- 
dama have been built up wdth stone masonry, and behind this 
is a deep cave. "We crowded into one of these excavations and 
wound our way among the gloomy sepulchral passages. In 
some places large quantities of bones can still be seen scattered 
about in promiscuous confusion. One of my companions, seized 
with a sudden impulse for gathering relics, picked up a dirty 
old skull, and declared his intention of transporting it from 
"The Field of Blood" to his American home, but before w^e 
reached daylight he abandoned his purpose, and left it to mol- 
der among its kindred bones. It is stated that the dirt of this 
charnel-house was anciently reputed to possess the remarkable 
quality of consuming the flesh of bodies cast into it in the brief 
space of twenty-four hours, without their undergoing corrup- 
tion. On this account, about 1812, many ship -loads of the dirt 
w^ere taken to Pisa, in Italy, to form the celebrated Camioo Santo. 
It was a loathsome place, and we made our visit very brief. 
Emerging once more into the light of day, we realized more 
than ever before the loneliness and dreariness of 

"The deep, damp vault, the darkness and the worm." 

i 



72 



THE HOLY LAND. 



E"earlj opposite Aceldama, at Xo. 10, is the Pool of Siloam ; 
but before we stop to examine it we will pass a little farther 
down, and just at the junction of the Yaliey of Jehoshaphat 
with the Kidron, we shall find a remarkable well, called by the 
Arabs, Bir JEyub, and by the Franks, the Well of iSTehemiah, 
now commonly known as 

THE WELL OF JOAB OR JOB. 

This is the En-Eogel of the Old Testament, one of the an- 
cient landmarks in locating the boundaries of the tribes. It is 
a large well, one hundred and twenty-five feet deep, strongly 
walled up with large hewn stones. This wall terminates in an 
arch at the top, evidently built in very ancient times. There 
is at all times plenty of water in the well, and during the rainy 
season it overfiows. The water of this well is exceUent, and it 
is still a place of great resort. A large flat stone, with a circu- 
lar hole in the center, constitutes the mouth of the well. The 
water is still drawn, as in ancient times, in leather buckets or 
earthen jars attached to ropes. I was particularly struck by 
the deep creases worn in the solid rock, where these ropes, for 
many centuries, had been drawn up and down. 

Standing upon the mouth of this well, we may recall two or 
three of the events that have transpired here. ]N"early three 
thousand years ago Absalom instigated a revolt against his 
father David, and made an attempt to seize upon the kingdom. 
David was forced to flee from Jerusalem, and took refuge near 
the Jordan. Jonathan and Ahimaaz returned to see what 
tidings they could gather of the progress of the rebellion. 
Fearing to come into the city lest they should be suspected as 
spies, they tarried by this well. A lad saw them here, knew 
them, and immediately carried the tidings to Absalom. Absa- 
lom's servants pursued them, but a loyal woman had a well in 
the court of her house into which they descended, and she laid 
a cloth over its mouth and spread corn upon it to dry ; and the 
unsuspecting emissaries of a rebellious son passed on without 
suspecting the deception. They were able to return to David 
with such information as to save him from the wicked plot of a 
rebellious son. 



THE YALLEY OF HINNOM. 



73 



As this well has been a rallying place for David's friends, so 
has it for his enemies. Seventy years had passed over his head, 
and the infirmities of age had settled down upon him. Absa- 
lom, his first born, had pierced his father's heart with many sor- 
rows, and now Adonijah, his third son, conspired against him. 
He prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and a great 
retinue of servants, and gathered around him many of the 
chief men of the kingdom, and on the broad plain of the valley 
that surrounds this well he made a great feast, and by the stone 
of Zoheleth he slew sheep, oxen and fat cattle, and had himself 
proclaimed king of Israel. But while these partisans were en- 
deavoring to consummate their wicked schemes here, up the val- 
ley yonder, by the Pool of Gihon, David directed the lawful au- 
thorities of the realm to assemble, and the crown of the king- 
dom was placed upon the head of Solomon. The shouts of the 
loyal multitude came echoing down this valley, and the hilar- 
ity of this unlawful feast was soon arrested. " All the guests 
that were with Adonijah were afraid, and rose up and went 
every man his way." The rebellious son who was about to 
grasp a scepter, fled for refuge to the courts of the Lord, and 
"laid hold on the horns of the altar," and there the magnani- 
mous Solomon extended a pardon to him. This fountain is 
also called the Well of ^fehemiah," from a singular tradition 
that the holy fire of the altar was preserved in a cave connected 
with it during the whole time of the captivity in Babylon, and 
that ^^ehemiah recovered it from this place on the re-building 
of the temple. 

THE MOUNT OF CORRUPTION. 

Standing where we now do, turn eastward, and look up to 
the tall mountain slope that rises nearly five hundred feet 
above our heads. That is the " Mount of Corruption." This 
is also called "Hill of Ofiense," and sometimes "Mount of 
Scandal." Strange things have transpired upon these hills and 
in these valleys. Within sight of where we now stand has 
passed many of the scenes that God has seen fit to order the 
pen of inspiration to record for the instruction of all succeed- 
ng generations. Alas ! that the wise and good king Solomon 



74 



THE HOLY LAND. 



should have so dishonored God and disgraced the closing 
scenes of his brilliant earthly career, by such shameful apostasy 
from his God. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed 
lest he fall. His idolatrous wives turned him away from the 
purity of his holy faith. He built an high place for Chemosh, 
the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, 
and for Moloch, the abomination of the children of Amnion. 
And likewise did he for all his strange wives which burned in- 
cense, and sacrificed unto their gods." (1 Kings ii. 7, 8.) We 
can offer no apology for him, but the imbecility of age ; and yet 
this the Lord did not accept as an excuse, for he was angry 
with him, and visited judgments upon his house and kingdom. 
And now there stands the hill, and God has set a name upon 
it, as if he would make it a perpetual memorial of the offense. 
There it stands — an enduring monument — and there it will 
stand, and the name, "Mount of Scandal," is the writing of 
God's hand upon it, and that name will go down to the latest 
posterity. Travelers from all lands will come here, and as 
they stand before it and gaze upon it, they will be reminded, 
on the one hand, of man's frailty; on the other, of heaven's dis- 
pleasure against all idolatry. But Solomon's defilement of this 
valley and hill, is not all that has rendered this spot a place of 
''offense." 

HERE WAS TOPHET. 

Under the apostate kings of Judah that subsequently reigned 
in Jerusalem, this portion of the valley became the seat of the 
most horrible idolatrous services. Here, under the very brow 
of Zion, overlooked by the magnificent temple of the living 
God, the most revolting of all heathen abominations were prac- 
ticed. ■ Here ''Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood of 
human sacrificers and parent's tears," had his groves and altars. 
He is represented as a large brazen statue, hollow within, and 
arms extended, as if to receive and welcome his victims. Heated 
with fire, children were placed as offerings upon the extended 
arms, and fell into the burning furnace below. During the time 
of sacrifice, drums were beaten to drown the cries of the burn- 
ing innocents. "Imagination," says one, "can picture the 



PLACES ABOUT JEEUSALEM. 



75 



monster ready for a victim, surrounded by priests, a band of 
drummers, and an excited multitude ; while here and there a 
Hebrew mother is seen, pale and haggard, straining her devoted 
infant to her bosom for the last time." 

We can scarce believe that such horrid and disgusting rites 
have been practiced upon this place where we now stand; but 
Moloch was an ancient idol, and often the children of Israel 
had been warned against honoring his altars. They had been 
taught his worship in idolatrous Egypt; they were tempted to 
re-establish it in the wilderness; and Moses had given them 
solemn warnings against it, the Lord instructing him to say : 
" Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers 
that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his children unto Mo- 
loch, he shall surely be put to death ; the people of the land 
shall stone him with stones." (Lev. xx. 2.) The awful idola- 
tries of this valley were broken up by good king Josiah, who 
made the valley 

A PLACE OF POLLUTION. 

He determined so to defile the place that the Jews disposed 
to idolatry would utterly abhor and forsake it. The idolatrous 
priests were degraded, the altars demolished, the groves cut 
down, and the place defiled with dead men's bones. This por- 
tion of the valley became a receptacle of filth and oflal of all 
kinds from the city. Here corruption and the worm held ban- 
quet, and fires are said to have been kept continually burning 
to consume the piles of filth that were deposited here. From 
this it was that the Greek Gehenna, from Ge Hinnom, became 
to the Jews a forcible illustration of the displeasure of God 
against transgressors, while the continual riot of the worm of 
corruption and ever burning fires furnished the Savior with 
his impressive imagery of future retribution, in which he has 
taught us it is better to cut off an oflending hand or foot, and 
enter life maimed, than to have the perfect body to be cast into 
hell (Gehenna), where their worm dieth not, and their fire is 
not quenched." Thus Gehenna and Tophet, ordained of old, 
are now our instructors; their very names are among the 
warnings God has written in the deep, dark depths of these 



76 



THE HOLY LAND. 



gloomy valleys to admonisli us of his displeasure against trans- 
gressors. Connected with, this valley is another remarkable 

FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY. 

Isaiah says of this place, in allusion to its character : " To- 
phet was ordained of old ; ^ ^ ^ he hath made it deep and 
large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the 
Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it." (xxiii. 35.) 
Jeremiah looks into the future and sees the fearful carnage, 
and the multitudes of slain that shall here be piled heaps upon 
heaps. The Lord directed him to take a potter's bottle, and 
come and stand in this very place, in company with some of the 
old priests, and in the presence of these witnesses to dash 
the bottle in pieces and say : " Thus saith the Lord of hosts, 
even so will I break this people, and this city (Jerusalem) as 
one breaketh a potter's vessel that cannot be made whole again, 
and they shall bury them in Tophet till there be no place to buryT 
(xix. 11.) 

Though this was written six hundred years before Christ, and 
might have applied to the conquest by ITebuchadnezzar, how 
exact was its fulfillment in the siege under Titus, according to 
the testimony of Josephus himself! The city then extended 
nearly down to this place, and a portion of this valley was not 
only a great place of sepulture, but it was in this corner of the 
city that the last struggle between the Jews and the Eomans 
took place; and this retired portion of the valley would 
most likely be the place to which the dead, slain in battle 
and dying of famine, would be conveyed. And through one 
gate alone, we are informed, there was carried out between the 
15th of the month ISTisan and the 1st of Tamuz, two months and 
a half, one hundred and fifteen thousand eight hundred and 
eighty dead bodies. After this some of the citizens went over 
to Titus, and informed him that up to the time of their leaving 
" no fewer than six hundred thousand dead had been thrown 
out at the gates. (Wars v., xiii. 7.) Tophet and Hinnom, what 
scenes ye have witnessed ! Can all the flowing waters of the 
Kidron and the fountains of thy hill-sides ever wash away thy 
defilements ? Well did Jeremiah say this place should no more 



FOUNTAINS OF THE YALLEY. 



77 



be called Topliet, nor the Yalley of tlie Son of Hinnom, but tlie 
Valley of Slaughter. When Titus came into the conquered 
dity, as Josephus informs us, and saw these valleys below Jeru- 
salem heaped full of dead bodies, he was so horrified at the 
sight that he raised his hands and called heaven to witness 
that he was not responsible for this terrific destruction of hu- 
man life ! 

But we are lingering here too long. Let us leave Tophet 
and Gehenna, and turn to scenes that will inspire more cheer- 
ful associations. Turning back a little, just at the mouth 
of the Tyropean Yalley, between Zion and Ophel, ^^"0. 10, we 
stand by 

THE POOL or SILOAM. 

This is a place of so much interest we must tarry here a lit- 
tle, and take a thorough look at it. It is one of the most 
noted fountains about Jerusalem. In this vicinity, just below 
this Pool, Solomon, and probably subsequent kings of Judah, 
had some most beautiful gardens; and iSTehemiah says: (iii. 15.) 

Shallum built the wall of the Pool of Siloah by the king's 
garden." Isaiah speaks of the waters of Siloah that fiow soft- 
ly ; and who has not read with deep interest the strange cure 
of the blind man, when the Savior, having anointed his eyes 
with the mixture of dust and spittle, said : " Go wash in the 
Pool of Siloam," and he went and washed, ''and came seeing." 
And who can write about this place without being reminded 
of the words of the great poet who sings of these renowned lo- 
calities : 

'•'If Zion's hill 
Deliglits thee more, and Siloa's brook, that flowed 
Fast by the oracles of God, I thence 
Invoke their aid to- my adventurous son^." 

To get a clear understanding of these remarkable waters, 
and about which, notwithstanding all the investigations of 
modern travelers, there is much of mystery, we must take you 
to another locality. Standing at Xo. 10, in the mouth of the 
Tyropean, where the waters of Siloam fiow out at the base of 
Ophel, follow around the brow of the hill in the valley of the 



■78 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Kidron to Xo. 11. Here is a singular reservoir of Tvater, now 
called 

THE FOUNTAIN OF THE YIRGIN. 

This fountain has several different names. It is sometimes 
called the Dragon's Fount — Fount of the Sun — Bath of Samuel — 
JBethesda — Fo"di?t of Siloam. I find much confusion in different 
authors in the description of these two fountains, and the name 
Pool and Fountain of Siloam used interchangeably and applied 
to both, and sometimes so applied as to make it impossible to 
tell which one is referred to. The lower one, Xo. 10, is the 
Pool of Siloam; the upper one, Xo. 11, may properly enough 
be called the Fountain of Siloam; for it, as we shall soon see, 
supplies the waters of the pool, but in the following description 
we shall call it the Fountain of the Virgin, the familiar name by 
which it is now known at Jerusalem. To Di*s. Barclay and 
E-obinson I am indebted for the most accurate description of 
these waters I have been able to find, and I felt that it was a 
great piece of good fortune to have Dr. Barclay with me in my 
visit to the place. 

Returning now to the Pool of Siloam, Xo. 10, let iis first take 
a look at that. The water here is received into an oblong res- 
ervoir, fifty -three feet in length, eighteen feet wide and nineteen 
feet deep. It does not fill up, but when the water, as it flows 
in, has attained the depth of two or three feet, it passes off 
through an outlet for a short distance under ground, and then 
falls into some reser^dors, or troughs, from which it goes dash- 
ing off' in little bubbling rills on its way to water the gardens 
below. At the upper end of this pool is an old arched stair- 
way, now tumbling into ruins, by which a descent can be made 
to the mouth of the subterranean passage through which the 
water enters. The pool is still a great place of public resort, 
and here the people congregate to bathe, wash clothes, and 
water their animals. Six old pillars of Jerusalem marble are 
still seen imbedded in a portion of the eastern wall of the pool, 
which, in connection with others that have now disappeared, 
probably once supported a roof over the waters. 

Xow comes the most singular feature of the pool. Its sup- 



THE POOL OF SILOAM. 



79 



ply of water is all received from the Fountain of the Virgin, 
'No. 11. Siloam means, sent, and the waters are sent to it from 
the fountain above. Dr. Robinson having found the belief 
current at Jerusalem that a subterranean passage existed be- 
tween these two fountains, and finding some allusions to it in 
early writings, determined, with his usual energy and persever- 
ance, to settle the question. Repairing in company with his 
companions to the Pool of Siloam, they divested themselves of 
shoes, stockings, and unnecessary garments, and entered the 
subterranean passage through which the water flows. It was 
a dirty, gloomy, and unexplored road. They found the pas- 
sage cut wholly through the solid rock, two feet wide, and 
somewhat winding in its course. For the first hundred feet it 
was from fifteen to twenty feet high : another hundred feet or 
more, from six to ten feet; afterwards, not more than two to 
three feet, thus gradually becoming lower and lower. Having 
lights and a tape line, they measured as they went, and after 
having penetrated eight hundred feet, the ceiling of the pas- 
sage was so low they could proceed no further without crawl- 
ing on all fours. This being a contingency they had not calcu- 
lated for, they traced on the roof, with the smoke of their 
candles, the initials of their names, and the figures 800, to de- 
note the distance, and made a retreat to the pool, wet and be- 
dabbled with mud, determined yet to complete the exploration. 
I^ow let us go up again to the Fountain of the Virgin. 

A portion of our road leads along an old embankment or 
causeway, and just by our path you may notice an old mulber- 
ry tree. It bears the marks of antiquity, is rotten at the base, 
crooked nearly double, and would tumble over but for a column 
of stone some careful persons have piled beneath to support it. 
That is the " Tree of Isaiah,^' and tradition says, marks the ex- 
act spot where Manassah caused the prophet to be sawn 
asunder. 

Arriving at the fountain, we find it a large, deep, artificial 
cavity in the hill- side, excavated entirely in the solid rock. To 
enter it, you descend first a broad stone stairway of sixteen 
steps; here you find a level stone space or platform twelve feet 
broad ; then you descend again ten steps more before reaching 



t 



80 THE HOLT LAl^D. 

the water. At tlie water you are about twenty -five feet below 
the entrance in the hill-side, and some ten to fifteen feet below 
the bottom of the valley. A good idea of this descent to these 
subterranean waters may be obtained from the accompanying 
cut. Arriving at the water you find it contained in a fountain 
or basin about fifteen feet long, five to six feet broad, and six 
or eight feet high. The usual depth of water is about three 
feet, the bottom of the basin being covered with pebbles and 
an accumulation of dirt and rubbish. The water fiows ofi' in a 
low passage leading towards the Pool of Siloam. It was from 
this point Drs. Robinson and Smith completed their survey of 
this subterranean passage. Prepared, not only for wading, but 
for crawling, they forced their way into the narrow passage. 
They found it much smaller than at the other end; most of the 
way they had to go upon their hands and knees, and in some 
places, where the passage w^as more filled up than at others, 
they had to lie at full length, and drag and push themselves 
along with knees and elb:)ws. It was a wonder to them how 
this small passage could ever have been cut through the solid 
rock. It could only be worked at by one man at a time, and 
by him only as he lay along nearly at full length. It must 
have been a work of years. They found also many turns and 
zigzags in the direction of the passage, thus greatly increasing 
its length. At last, after having worked their way in this labo- 
rious manner nine hundred and ffty feet, to their great satisfac- 
tion they came upon their original smoke mark of 800 feet, the 
termination of their exploration from the opposite direction. 
Thus by this laborious process they settled the question that 
the waters of Siloam were supplied from the Fountain of the 
Virgin by a subterranean passage seventeen hundred and fifty feet 
in length, chiseled by the hand of man through the solid rock 
of Ophel! 

Dr. Barclay informed us that he attempted an exploration 
of the same passage. He crawled in several hundred feet, 
when he found the passage so choked up with rubbish he could 
scarcely keep his mouth above water, even when his head was 
pressed against the upper part of the passage, and he was com- 
pelled to retreat. He, however, made a discovery, forty-nine 



J 




I' 



FOUNTAIN OP THE YIRGIN. 



83 



feet from the entrance, of a collateral passage, which was found 
to lead across Ophel towards Mount Zion, and which he ex- 
plored to a point near the present Mugrabin Grate, a small gate 
between Mount Zion Grate and the Temple area, without find- 
ing its termination. 

But while we have here the source of the waters of the Pool 
of Siloam, how is this Fountain of the Virgin supplied? This 
is a mystery that remains to be yet explained. One of the pe- 
culiarities of the water is their periodical flow. The main por- 
tion of the water enters from beneath the north end of the 
lowest step, but some of it comes bubbling up with considera- 
ble force about midway of the pool on the south side. This 
stream ebbs and flows quite irregularly, but generally three or 
four times a day in autumn, and oftener in spring. It runs 
from two to four hours in the twenty-four, and appears perfect- 
ly quiescent during the remainder of the day. "When it com- 
mences flowing it gushes out suddenly with considerable force, 
and runs from fifteen minutes to half an hour, and then ceases 
for several hours. 

"What is the reason of this periodical ebb and flow of the 
waters? Ask that woman who has just filled her water-pot at 
the generous fountain. She will tell you that in some deep, 
under-ground channel through which this water comes, there 
lives a monstrous dragon. "When he lies down he completely 
dams up the water and prevents its flow ; when he gets up to 
seek his food, the water again has a chance to flow until he re- 
sumes his rest ; and thus it is only occasionally the waters can 
run. Such is the popular superstition among the credulous 
natives with regard to this singular fountain. But however 
satisfactory this explanation may be to ignorant Arabs and 
Moslems, it does not satisfy the scientific mind. 

That these waters are connected with some subterranean res- 
ervoir in the hills above, there can be no doubt. That this res- 
ervoir empties itself periodically, by means of a syphon pas- 
sage, must also be admitted. But whether that reservoir and 
syphon aqueduct be the work of nature, or fashioned by the 
hand of art, remains to be determined. It has long been the 
opinion of many intelligent persons that this singular fiow of 



84 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the waters of Siloam is in some way connected with tlie artifi- 
cial, subterranean water passages of the city, either of Mount 
Zion, or the Temple area, or both. So much was Dr. Barclay 
impressed with this idea, that on one occasion he made a bar- 
gain with the sheik of the adjoining village, who claims to ex- 
ercise protection over the fountain, for the privilege of remov- 
ing a few of the lower steps, beneath which the most of the 
waters enter, to see if he could discover any artificial, subterra- 
nean passage. Knowing the prejudice and hostility of the na- 
tives, he repaired to the place, with the necessary help and imple- 
ments of labor, about 10 o'clock at night, determined to use the 
quiet hours of slumber to the best advantage. "What was his 
surprise to meet the wily old sheik, who, true to the treacher- 
ous instincts and avarice of his race, gravely informed him that 
the bargain for one hundred piasters, then about five dollars, 
was only a mere jest on his part; that the "Angleseys" (En- 
glish) had repeatedly oflered him five hundred piasters for the 
same privilege, which he had always indignantly refused ; but as 
he was " Hakim American " he would only charge him/owr hun- 
dred piasters! The Doctor's zeal was extinguished; the ex- 
ploration was abandoned ; the sheik, in attempting to grasp too 
much, lost all, and the hidden sources of Siloah's waters still 
remain a profound mystery. 

This Fountain of Siloam is still a great place of resort for the 
surrounding inhabitants, and especially of the neighboring vil- 
lage of Siloam. The steps are deeply and smoothly worn by 
the incessant passing up and down. It is a great wash-tub, 
where women daily resort to renovate their bundles of soiled 
and dirty garments ; it is a great public bath, where old and 
young of both sexes perform their ablutions ; it is believed by 
the natives to possess healing qualities, and to be especially 
beneficial in ophthalmic afiections, so that diseased bodies and 
sore eyes impart their foul contaminations to the water, and 
render it unfit for the use of the more cleanly Frank. 

It is said by some to get the name ''Fountain of the Virgin" 
from the fact that the mother of our Lord used to resort here 
with others to wash her wearing apparel; others say that these 
waters were a grand test for women accused of incontinence. 



WATEES OF SILOAH. 



85 



If innocent, they drank it without injury; if guilty, they imme- 
diately fell down dead ! When the Virgin Mary was accused, 
she submitted to the ordeal, and thus established her innocence. 

Was it not this or some similar pool known in the days of 
our Savior as Bethesda, in which the periodical flow of the 
waters was attributed to an angel, and which waters were be- 
lieved to possess healing powers? At any rate, it was with pe- 
culiar interest I clambered down the old moss-grown steps, trod, 
perhaps, by the feet of kings and patriarchs, listened to the 
deep gurgling waters, and recalled the interesting incidents 
connected with the place. Siloam is a place that awakens 
many a serious, yet interesting and profitable refl.ection. True, 
the place has now been stripped of its poetic beauties, and has 
lost the charm of inspiration it once possessed. This hill, once 
dense with population, is now a barren waste; the beautiful 
gardens, that were once the resort and pride of kings, have 
given place to a few miserable patches of cultivated soil. "What 
might, under the hand of cultivation, be one of the most beau- 
tiful and picturesque spots in the world, is now a scene of deso- 
lation ; and blindness, such as Siloam's waters can never wash 
away, rests upon the inhabitants. 

These waters have been made a beautiful type of more glori- 
ous things. Having their source, as many believe, in the secret 
subterranean reservoirs of the Mount of God, here they come 
gushing forth ; on through Kidron eastward they flow, gradual* 
ly increasing in size and force, till they find a home and are 
swallowed up in the bitter waters of the Dead Sea. Here, it is 
thought, Ezekiel (xlvii. 1, 12) got his striking illustration of 
the waters of life, the mystical river of God, which, small in its 
beginnings, he saw flow from under the altar of God. It went 
forth eastward towards the desert country ; at first its depth 
was to the ankles, then to the knees, then to the loins, and then 
"it was a river to swim in that could not be passed over." 
Wherever the river went, every thing lived, and when it came 
into the sea the loaters were healed. What is this but the glori- 
ous river of life — the gospel of the grace of God — bursting 
forth in the glorious revelation of Jesus Christ, issuing from Je- 
rusalem, the sanctuary, flowing through the desert portions of 



86 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the earth, scattering hfe and blesdngs, and sweetening the bit- 
ter waters of sin and death ? I wonder if David did not stand 
by this pool, or bathe in these waters, and think of their hid- 
den origin beneath the sanctuary, when he says, '^AU my s]prings 
are in TheeP Surely, from Zion has gone forth the law, and the 
word of God from Jerusalem. 

HIGHT OF THE MOUNTAINS. 

The hight of some of the elevations about the city from En- 
Rogel, or the Well of Joab, at the junction of Jehoshaphat 
and Hinnom, is given by Dr. Barclay : 



Mount Ophel above En-Eogel 377 feet. 

Mount of Corruption, En-Eogel 422 " 

Top of the city wall at the southeast corner of the temple area 425 " 

Hill of Evil Council 506 « 

Zion, average hight 521 " 

Bezetha 550 " 

Northwest corner of the city 571 " 

Mount Olivet 678 " 



As the Pool of Siloam is one hundred and seventeen feet 
higher than En-Rogel, by deducting that from the above hights 
it will give their elevation above this pool. Mount Zion is four 
hundred and four feet above Siloam. As the sides of these el- 
evations are often rocky and precipitous, it gives them a much 
more imposing appearance than they would otherwise have, and 
as one looks upon them he is impressed with the striking com- 
parison of David, " As the mountains are round about Jerusa- 
lem, so the Lord is round about his people." 

"We shall now return to the city for our noonday refresh- 
ments; at 2 o'clock we will meet again at this fountain, and 
continue our walk up the Yalley of Jehoshaphat, among the 
tombs and into the celebrated excavations beneath the city. 



VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT. 



89 



CHAPTEE lY. 

Rambles about Jerusalem Conthstued — Ancient Tombs — 
Grottoes and Wonderful Excavations. 

At Siloam we are in the renowned Yalley of Jehoshaphat, 
meaning " Jehovah Judgeth." The origin of this name is found 
in a passage of the prophet Joel, in which he speaks of the 
"Yalley of Jehoshaphat," where God will judge the oppress- 
ors of his people. It is singular that this valley, in three of the 
great religious systems of the world, should be designated as 
the scene of the last great jugdment. The Jew here looks for 
the appearance of Messiah and destruction upon his enemies. 
On yonder terrace wall of Mount Moriah that overhangs this 
valley, the Mohammedan will tell you his Prophet will sit to 
judge the world; while from yonder summit of Olivet the Sa- 
vior ascended to heaven, and many believe that on this spot he 
will descend, and that before him the nations shall be gathered. 
Well is this wild ravine called the "Yalley of Decision." Jews, 
Mohammedans and Christians all agree in the propriety of the 
present name. Jerusalem, what a place thou hast in the reli- 
gious faith and affections of the world! 

The head of the valley is on the north side of Jerusalem, and 
at first very shallow. As you descend the valley to the south- 
ward, and come opposite St. Stephen's Gate, the depth is about 
one hundred feet, and the breadth about four hundred feet. 
Here, a little to the northward as you cross the valley, nestling 
under the shadow of the steep declivities of Olivet, is one of the 
sacred spots embalmed in the memory of every Christian, and 
to which we are yet to pay a formal visit — Gethsemane. As 
you continue down the valley along the Temple area it rapidly 
deepens, and the hills rise in steep precipices on both sides. 



90 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Passing the Fountain of Siloam, the valley again widens, the 
pleasant gardens and cultivated terraces make their appearance ; 
and near by, in strange contrast, ''Tophet and black Gehenna, 
called the type of hell." The length of the valley from its 
head to En-Rogel, or its junction with Hinnom, is two and 
three-fourths miles. It then cuts its way through the wild, 
hilly country of the wilderness of Judea, past the convent of 
St. Saba, where it is called "The Monk's Yalley;" below the 
convent it takes the name of the " Yalley of Fire," until it ter- 
minates at the Dead Sea, fourteen miles from Jerusalem. Such 
is the valley that now has an undying name in the records of 
our holy religion. "A valley," says one, "which has witnessed 
on its banks the greatest scene in the evangelical drama — the 
tears, the agonies, and the death of the Savior! A valley 
through which the prophets have passed, in their turns, utter- 
ing a cry of wo and terror, which seems still to echo ! " and we 
may say, a valley from the banks of which the Savior ascended 
to be again with his Father, and a valley which, in the estima- 
tion of many, "is destined to hear the stupendous noise of the 
torrent of souls rolling before God, and coming to their fatal 
judgment." Through this valley flows 

THE WATERS OF THE KIDRON. 

Kidron, Kedron, or Cedron, as some call it, is the Hebrew 
name of the place. When David fled from the city during the 
rebellion of his son Absalom, he is said to have "passed over 
the brook Kidron, toward the way of the wilderness." After 
this the place is frequently referred to in the history of the 
Holy City. The bed of the Kidron opposite Jerusalem is now 
dry.; no water flows above the surface until you get far down 
the valley below the city. But this is undoubtedly owing to 
the great diminution of water that has taken place from natu- 
ral causes that have long been operating in this land. That 
tliere was formerly a running brook here, is evident from the 
various scripture allusions to the place. Though the channel 
of the stream is now dry, the "Brook Kidron" has a place in 
Christian history and Christian poetry, from which it will never 
perish. It was crossed and re-crossed by the Savior, and is one 



JEHOSHAPHAT A BUKIAL PLACE. 91 

of the landmarks by which we know the spot of his agony on 
the fearful night of his betrayal. Gethsemane and Kidron are 
inseparably blended in the closing scenes of his eventful life. 

Jehoshaphat, like Hinnom, is a great sepulchral valley. Just 
under the east wall of the city the Mohammedans have a cem- 
etery, and a large extent of ground is thickly covered with 
their singular looking tombs. Here, under the shadow of the 
great Mosque of Omar, the Mussulman covets a tomb. On the 
opposite side of the valley is the great silent city of the Jewish 
dead. Here, since the days of David and Solomon, generation 
after generation have been gathered unto their fathers. For 
thousands of years bones have been piled upon bones, and the 
dust of the children has been mingled with the ashes of their 
forefathers. The whole of the east bank, all along up the side 
of Olivet, is covered with the tombs of the countless descend- 
ants of Abraham. It is still said to be one of the greatest 
privileges craved by the dying Jew, to have his bones laid in 
the sepulchral home of his fathers in the Valley of Jehosha- 
phat. Here they expect their coming Messiah to stand in the 
resurrection. Those buried in this valley, they say, will rise at 
once from their tombs, while those who have been buried in 
other lands will have a long and weary under-ground pilgrim- 
age to make to reach this place. 

Just opposite the Fountain of the Virgin upon the steep de- 
clivity of the eastern bank, I^o. 12, is the modern village of Si- 
loam, or Silwan. It is a wretched looking place of a few scores 
of dwellings, formed by wresting the rock-hewn sepulchres of 
the hill- side from the possession of the dead, building up stone 
fronts, and turning them into gloomy, dirty looking abodes for 
the living. The inhabitants are as wretched and miserable as 
their dwellings, and noted for their rude and lawless conduct. 
There is nothing about the place or its surroundings to awaken 
the poetic associations the name is calculated to suggest. 

Some of the ancient tombs along this valley are worthy of 
special notice : 

"Strong vaulted cells, where martyred seers of old 
Far in the rocky walls of Zion sleep." 



92 



THE HOLY LAND. 



The soil on these hill-sides is shallow and easily washed 
away; the rock is soft and easily cut, and both these circum- 
stances conspired to induce the ancients to cut their tombs deep 
into the solid beds of the mountains. A few of the monu- 
mental tombs are worthy of special note. 

The Tomb of St. James is a large excavated chamber in the 
side of the cliff, with a porch in front, supported by two col- 
umns. The doorway is handsomely carved. The porch is 
eighteen feet wide and nine deep, from which a plain door 
opens into a sepulchral chamber seventeen feet by fourteen. 
From this are openings into three smaller places, with recesses 
for bodies. 

The Tomb of Zechariah is a monolithic monument — an en- 
tire mass of the native rock separated from the hill-side by 
cutting a broad passage around three sides of it. It is cubic in 
shape, with a pyramidal top, each side seventeen feet. It is or- 
namented with columns, pilasters, cornice, etc., and said to have 
been constructed in honor of Zechariah, who was stoned in the 
court of the temple in the reign of Joash. "Your fathers 
killed the prophets, and ye build their sepulchres." l^o entrance 
to this singular monument has ever been found, and it is sup- 
posed to be solid. Many Hebrew names are engraven upon 
the sidesj and dirt and rubbish have accumulated about it till 
nearly one- fourth of it is buried from view. 

The Tomb of Jehoshaphat is near by. The stone doorway 
is richly ornamented with sculptured foliage, although it is now 
choked up nearly to the top with dirt and stones. For whom 
this tomb was built is a matter of much uncertainty. Jehosha- 
phat, the Bible informs us, "was buried with his fathers in the 
city of David ; " if so, he was not buried here. Some say it is 
the burial place of Simon the Just, and others assign it to Jo- 
seph, the husband of Mary. In 1842, it is said an attempt to 
explore this tomb by a visitor from Eome resulted in the dis- 
covery, in the interior, of a Hebrew manuscript of the Penta- 
teuch. Dr. Barclay informed us that he had long been anxious 
to make an exploration of the tomb, but the jealousy and hos- 
tihty of the Jews prevented it. At last, taking advantage of 
the cover of night, and plying pick and shovel with all possible 



ANCIENT TOMBS. 



93 



secrecy and diligence, he reached the interior, but instead of 
being rewarded by the discovery of ancient manuscripts and 
Jewish antiquities, he found only a room full of rotten leather 
parings, and heaps of unsightly skeletons. ITear this may be 
seen another notable monument — 

The Tomb or Pillar of Absalom. O, Absalom ! The mem- 
ory of that bad boy loses none of its offensive odor as it comes 
down through the long succession of generations. With what 
unfeigned anguish a heart-broken father hung over his man- 
gled body. " 0, Absalom, my son, my son, would God I had 
died for thee." But Absalom was not buried here. He was 
slain in the battle his own rebellion had provoked in the wood 
of Ephraim ; " and they took him and cast him into a great 
pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him." 
(2 Sam. xviii. 17.) But the same narrative informs us: "Ab- 
salom in his life time had reared up for himself a pillar, which 
is in the king's dale, for he said, I have no son to keep my 
name in remembrance ; and he called the pillar after his own 
name." 

The lower part of this pillar, like the tomb of Zechariah, is a 
monolith, chiseled from the solid rock of the hill-side. This 
mass of stone is twenty-two feet square, ornamented with col- 
umns and pilasters, and over them an Egyptian cornice. 
Above this is a pile of masonry, consisting of layers of large 
stones, ornamented with projecting cable moldings, the whole 
surmounted by a pyramidal top, crowned by a tuft of palm 
leaves. Its hight is about fifty feet. A great heap of rubbish 
has accumulated about the base, to which additions are contin- 
ually made from the contempt in which the memory of Absa- 
lom is held. Moslems, Jews and Christians, as they pass this 
monument, manifest their indignation against the rebellious 
son by casting a stone at the monument, or spitting spitefully 
towards it. I write this for the boys. If you would have the 
respect of the good while living, and a revered monument to 
mark your resting place when dead, remember the command- 
ment, and honor thy father and thy mother. From these sin- 
gular and costly tombs, we will now climb up the side of Oli- 
vet to ^0. 13, the Tombs of the Prophets. 



94 



THE HOLY LAi^D. 



The tombs we have beeu comtemplating are monumental 
piles above ground; these are dark, sepulchral regions — deep, 
damp chambers in the heart of Olivet. 'No mere verbal de- 
scription could convey any just idea of these subterranean gal- 
leries, vaults, and coffin cells ; so we have inserted the following 
plan, by which the reader will see at a glance the singular 
course and comparative length and depth of these subterrane- 




THE TOMBS OP THE PROPHETS. 

an passages. The entrance, No. 1, is narrow and crooked, and 
now nearly choked up with dirt, so that one has literally to 
crawl to gain an entrance. At No. 2 you find yourself in a 
large circular chamber, twenty-four feet in diameter, and ten 
feet high. Two parallel galleries, E'os. 3 and 4, ten feet high 
and five feet wide, are carried southward through the rock 
about sixty feet ; a third. No. 5, diverges southeast about forty 
feet. These are connected by two cross galleries in concentric 
curves, I^os. 6 and 7, one at their extreme end, the other in the 
middle. The outer one is one hundred and fifteen feet long, 
and has a range of thirty niches on the level of its floor, radi- 
ating outwards, in which to deposit dead bodies. Other pas- 
sages opening into other chambers may also be seen in the 
drawing. 

How these singular catacombs obtained the name of " Tombs 



TOMBS IN OLIVET. 95 

of the Prophets," no one now knows, as there is no evidence 
that any of the prophets were buried here. They are, in their 
construction, unlike any other tombs in the vicinity of Jerusa- 
lem, Existing in connection with the great Jewish cemetery, 
would lead to the supposition that the Jews might have exca- 
vated them; and yet, as Jerusalem was a city long anterior to 
the occupation of the Israelites, they may have a still earlier 
date. 'Not a line of inscription, a record, or remains of any 
kind, have ever been found to throw a ray of light upon their 
origin. "Who built them, what lordly or menial occupants may 
have possessed them, will probably forever remain a profound 
mystery. Their ancient occupants have crumbled to dust. 
We found skeletons in a few of the niches, but they were evi- 
dently of recent deposit. The Rabbins say, ''that when the 
dead shall live again. Mount Olivet shall be rent asunder, and 
all the dead of Israel shall come out thence." When that takes 
place, who of the ancient worthies will spring up from the 
moldering dust of these lone, subterranean regions? Omnis- 
cience alone can tell. 

Glad to escape from the stifling air, and grim associations of 
the charnel-house, we descended the hill, re-crossed the Kidron, 
climbed the rugged side of Mount Moriah, and stood beneath 
the Temple area, just where the Gate Beautiful, E'o. 16, once 
opened its magnificent portals towards the rising sun. The 
outside of the wall at the corner is upwards of seventy-five feet 
high, its base reaching down upon the hill-side. We passed 
along under the wall towards St. Stephen's Gate, l^ear the 
gate our attention was called to some huge stones in the base 
of the cit}^ wall. These stones, it is admitted by all, are some 
of the few remains of old Jewish masonry. They are all bev- 
eled in the peculiar style of the Jewish cutting, and amidst all 
the overturns and devastating tides of ruin that have swept 
over the city, have remained unmoved. Five courses of them 
are nearly entire. One of these stones is twenty-three feet 
nine inches long, three feet thick, and five feet two inches wide. 
Others are from seventeen to twenty feet. Probably some of 
these immense rocks of the southeastern wall were laid in the 
places they now occupy by Solomon himself when he prepared 



96 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the Temple area. " Master," said the disciples as they went out 
of the temple, " see what manner of stones, and what buildings 
are here." Though this seems to have been spoken more par- 
ticularly of the temple itself, it might also apply to the outer 
w^alls. 

Leaving Gethsemane upon our right, a sacred spot we are 
soon to visit, we passed around the northeast corner of the city, 
towards the Damascus Gate. The hills on this side of the city 
melt away into gentler slopes; there are none of those deep ra- 
vines that form the great natural defenses of the other sides 
of the city,, and it is not until you get some distance north and 
ascend the high ridge of Scopus that you can overlook any 
portion of the city. This being the most defenseless side of 
the city, from this way its enemies have generally made their 
approaches. On yonder ridge of Scopus Titus had his camp, 
and from this point commenced the siege which ended in such 
fearful ruin to the city. As I passed along these localities I 
could not but think also of old ^fehemiah, in the days of the 
Babylonish captivity, wiien he came stealthily by night, crawl- 
ing about among the ruins of the demolished walls, laying his 
plans for their reconstruction. A little to the northeast of Da- 
mascus Gate we were taken to 

THE GROTTO OP JEREMIAH. 

A large portion of the hill here has been removed by the 
quarryings of ancient times, and this grotto has been cut in the 
southern side of a rocky ledge, now fenced in, with a garden 
and dwelling-house in front. The gate is kept by a dingy Arab, 
whose obstinacy nothing but the all-potent backsheesh could 
move. A shilling set gates and doors all wide open, and gave 
us free access to every avenue. It is a spacious, romantic place. 
In one corner was an opening into an inner cavern, containing 
a large fountain and a reservoir of water. But for what are 
we here, but to see the place where Jeremiah wrote his lamenta- 
tions ? There in that deep, dismal corner of the great cavern, 
high upon that rocky bed, is the very spot — "they say." I 
climbed up to the top ; a deep indentation in the rock, precise- 
ly the shape of a man's back from the shoulders downward. 



ANCIENT TOMBS. 



97 



was identified as the very place where the old prophet lay, 
mourned and wrote. I lay down and adjusted my back to the 
hard mold, and found it an excellent fit. Poor old seer ! If 
he was compelled to lie here till his aching back had thus in- 
dented the hard rock, no wonder that his productions, for the 
bitterness of their sorrows and the depths of their pathos, have 
obtained for him the name of the weeping prophet! 

VISITS TO OTHER TOMBS. 

We have not done yet with the ancient tombs of Jerusalem. 
There are several extensive and magnificent ones about the 
head of this valley of Jehoshaphat. It seems to have been the 
ambition of ancient heroes, not only to rule while living, but 
to have a secure and quiet resting place when dead. Conscious 
that grim death would wind his leaden arms about them, and 
lay them to rest in his silent dominions, they hewed to them- 
selves costly mausoleums, where they hoped to rest undisturbed. 
How few of them succeeded ! The hand of the invader, more 
ruthless than death himself, has sought them out, and where is 
the tomb that has not long since been opened and plundered? 
The more laborious the passage and curious the art of conceal- 
ment, the more expectation was excited and avarice stimu- 
lated in hopes of finding hidden treasures. 

The Tombs or the Judges are not far from us to the north- 
ward. They are extensive excavations in the rocks — rooms be- 
yond rooms, and chambers beneath chambers, with tiers of re- 
cesses for the honored dead. On another occasion, I went out 
to them with two of my companions, provided with torches, 
and walked through the gloomy halls. All traces of those who 
once slept here have disappeared. Who occupied these vaulted 
chambers, who wept for them, or sacg theu' requiem, none can 
tell. These tombs received their present name from a tradi- 
tion that the members of the Jewish Sanhedrim were buried 
here, but of this there is no certainty. They face the west, and 
have a magnificent sculptured entrance, ornamented with flow- 
ers and other devices surrounding flaming torches. From 
these we turned to the most elaborately wrought sepulchres in 
all this region — the Tombs of the Kings. 



98 



THE HOLY LAND. 



They are nearly north of the Damascus Gate, very near 
where the old wall made its northernmost angle. Dr. Bar- 
clay has thoroughly explored them, and heing with us will be 
our guide. They are also called the " Tonib of Relena,^^ from a 
supposition that they were intended for this renowned princess. 
Why called Tombs of the Kings, it is difficult to tell, unless 
they belonged to the Herodian times, for the kings of Judah 
were buried on the southern side of Zion. To show the skill 
and labor expended on these tombs, we here introduce the ac- 
companying diagram : 




THE TOMBS OP THE KINGS. 



Approaching the place, you find a huge trench or road cut 
out of the rock, down which you pass till you are eighteen feet 
below the surrounding surface. Here you pass a doorway, 
through a wall of native rock seven feet thick, into a large 
open court, excavated also from the solid rock, ninety-two feet 
long, and eighty-seven feet wide, a section of which is seen at 



TOMBS OP THE KINGS. 



99 



Fo. 1 of the diagram, the walls all hewn smooth and perpen- 
dicular. The bottom of this court was, no doubt, a smooth 
floor of rock, but it is now incumbered with piles of dirt and 
stone. On the west side of this court is an open doorway, 
twenty-seven feet wide, leading into a spacious vestibule, 'No. 
2, thirty-nine feet long, seventeen feet wide and fifteen feet 
high. This vestibule, like all other portions of the building, is 
excavated from the solid rock. The sides of the doorway were 
once ornamented with pilasters, and two stone columns, now 
broken down, divided the entrance into three equal spaces. On 
the rock above the entrance are some elegant sculptures — large 
clusters of grapes between garlands of flowers, intermingled 
with Corinthian capitals and other decorations. Tracery work 
of flowers and fruits extend across the portal and hang down - f 
along the sides. I was surprised to see how well this exquisite 
carving had been preserved amid the wasting influences of time 
and the ravages of reckless barbarians. 

The floor of the inner chamber, No. 4, is nearly three feet 
lower than the floor of the vestibule, and is entered by a low 
doorway, No. 3. This doorway was so ingeniously contrived, 
as, in the days of its perfection, to have almost entirely baffled 
the search of the curious who might wish to find it. It would 
be impossible to give an accurate idea of this by any mere 
verbal description. It is certainly, as one says, "one of the 
most ingenious and remarkable pieces of mechanism handed 
down to us from antiquity." This entrance was beneath a trap 
door, concealed by flagging-stones ; while the landing under it 
was a deep well, into which one had to descend to find the pas- 
sage. This wonderful doorway has now been broken up, and 
the entrance so filled with dirt and stones we had to get down, 
and, serpent-like, work our way through. Succeeding in this 
we stood in room No. 4. This is only an ante-room, and not 
intended for burial, eighteen and a half feet by nineteen. Here 
the Doctor called our attention to another ingenious device for 
securing the safety of the tombs. On the inside of this strange 
doorway was originally hung a ponderous stone door. It could 
be easily pushed open by the person entering, if he had suc- 
ceeded in finding the hidden passage ; but after being opened 



100 



THE HOLY LAND. 



was so contrived, by being hung upon an inclined jamb, that 
it would swing to from its own weight, and could not be opened 
from the inside • and the intruder might find himself in a dis- 
mal dungeon, left to perish with the moldering dead about him, 
without the possibility of escape. 

From this ante-chamber a low doorway opened into IsTo. 5, 
a room eleven feet by twelve, having six niches in the walls, in 
which to lay the bodies of the dead ; another passage opened 
into a similar room, 'No. 6, thirteen feet by thirteen, having 
also receptacles for sarcophagi or bodies. On the west another 
passage way opens into No. 7, thirteen and one-fourth feet 
square, which appears to be the most important room of all, 
having three crypts on each of three sides, north, south and 
west ; some of these crypts open into still smaller chambers for 
tombs. The doorways of these rooms were all secured, like 
the one first mentioned, by heavy stone doors hung upon the 
inside, shutting of themselves, and opened only from the outer 
passage. Fragments of these doors, some of them ornamented 
with carvings, may still be seen in the rooms. Along the sides 
of these rooms are small channels cut in the floor to carry ofi* 
any water that may drip from the ceilings ; the walls are square 
and handsomely chiseled, but not polished. 

From the southwest corner of No. 6, a flight of steps de- 
scend into a lower chamber, No. 8, lying partly beneath Nos. 4 
and 8, ten feet by twelve. On each of three sides of this room 
are large arched niches for the reception of sarcophagi, and 
such undoubtedly once occupied them. They were of beauti- 
ful white marble, elegantly sculptured with flowers and wreaths ; 
but they have been torn from their resting places, broken in 
pieces, and scattered about the room. From the north side of 
No. 7, a flight of steps leads to a similar lower story chamber, 
lying far beneath the surface, and, like the former one, having 
the remains of once beautifully sculptured, but now broken 
sarcophagi scattered about it. 

Such is the construction of these elaborate tombs, so far as 
they have been explored. Lying, as they do, all upon the south- 
west corner of the vestibule, suggested to Dr. Kobinson that 
there must be others upon the opposite side. He set several 



EUINED TOMBS. 



101 



men at work to clear away the rubbish, to see if he could not 
discover some opening in that direction ; but all their efforts 
were in vain. Still the Doctor thinks there may be such 
entrance, but so adroitly concealed as yet to baffle all research. 
It has often occurred to me since visiting the place, that as the 
well at ISTo. 3 was made in part to conceal the entrance to these 
chambers, and mislead explorers, it might also be connected 
with some secret passage in an opposite direction. "Whether it 
has ever been thoroughly explored with a view to the settle- 
ment of that question, I do not know, but presume it has not. 

But we have groped about these ruined, plundered tombs 
long enough. How eloquently they speak to us, not only of 
the vanity of human greatness, but the insecurity of both the 
living and the dead. The good and the brave, the mitred 
priest and the sceptred king, may here have sought a secure 
and quiet resting place ; but their secret chambers have been 
laid open, their costly sarcophagi dashed in pieces, and their 
dust scattered to the winds of heaven. There is no secure 
hiding place but in Him who says : " I am the resurrection and 
the life." Standing in him while we live, entombed in him 
when we die, we may banish our anxieties about the fate of 
the frail tenement of clay. It may sleep in the deep, dark 
caverns of earth, or be inhumed in the fathomless waters of the 
mighty deep, or be burned and scattered like the dust of the 
summer threshing floor ; it shall not be lost — the eye of Omni- 
science will watch over it—it shall live again and live forever. 

EXCAVATIONS BENEATH THE CITY. 

We had still one more place of interest to visit as we left the 
tombs and turned our steps toward the city. These were the 
wonderful excavations discovered by Dr. Barclay beneath the 
city. The knowledge of these appears to have been lost, and the 
Doctor had no intimations of their existence ; it was only by a 
singular circumstance he discovered the entrance to them. On 
one occasion, returning from a walk, as he approached the Da- 
mascus Gate, he found his dog barking furiously, and digging 
under a portion of the wall a little east of the gate. He soon 
discovered there was an opening under the wall, closed up by 



102 



THE HOLY LAND. 



a pile of loose dirt. Fearing to make any examinations by 
daylight, lest he should excite the jealousy and opposition of 
the Moslems, he closed up the aperture and returned to his 
home. But his curiosity could not sleep over the discovery. 
With some members of his family, duly equipped with torches 
and shovels, he returned, under cover . of night, and soon 
enlarged the aperture, so that one after another they slipped 
under the wall. The wonderful discovery they made there, the 
Doctor has brought us to this place to show ; so let us slip in 
with, him through the narrow opening, and light our torches. 
First, we see an immense roof of stone, like a great ceiling, 
over our heads. An immense heap of dirt appears to have 
been shoveled in here, evidently intended to close up the pas- 
sage, but it has settled down two or three feet, so that we can 
crawl over the top of it, bumping our heads occasionally against 
the stone ceiling above. This great mound of earth reaches 
from seventy-five to one hundred feet. As we went clamber- 
ing over it, the air seemed filled with smoke, and soon a light 
made its appearance ahead. "What can it mean?" says one. 
We approached, and found a miserable looking Arab man and 
woman, with two or three ragged children, sitting around a fire 
they had kindled with a few sticks. They were evidently a 
miserable vagrant family, who, having no house or home, had 
crawled in here to find temporary protection. We now went 
down a steep descent upon the opposite side of this great pile 
of loam ; the cavern deepening upon us, and expanding into 
unknown dimensions, in the thick darkness of which the glim- 
mering light of our tapers died away in the distance without 
any obstruction to reflect it. It was darkness fearful ; silence 
profound and awful. Then we came upon huge piles of the 
chippings of stones, where workmen of unknown times had 
labored in giving proper shape and form to the quarried masses. 
Large pillars of the native rock had been left at suitable inter- 
vals to support the ponderous ceiling. 

On we proceeded, slowly and cautiously. Suddenly the 
Doctor's warning voice arrested our attention : " Hold, don't 
go there ! " A sudden halt. "And what's here. Doctor ? " "A 
frigbtful precipice and chasm." We looked beneath us, but 



CAVE BENEATH THE CITY. 



103 



could see nothing except an impenetrable pall of darkness, 
black as Erebus. The Doctor's sounding line had been there 
before us in his former explorations. The pit here is deep and 
the sides precipitous. The Doctor assured us that in his former 
explorations, on reaching the bottom he found a human skeleton^ 
Some poor fellow — who or when none will ever know — had 
found his way in there, stumbled over the precipice, and as 
examination showed, broke his skull in the fall — killed and 
sepulchred in these mysterious vaults. 

In one place, where we came to the termination of a great 
chamber, we stopped to contemplate the unfinished work of 
the ancient quarry men. Here were great blocks of stone, 
partly quarried, still hanging to the native mass. One of these 
was a perpendicular stone about ten feet high, and between 
three and four feet square. The workmen had commenced by 
cutting a perpendicular crease upon the two exposed sides, 
about four inches wide, and had proceeded until it was about 
two feet deep upon each side of the block. This must have 
been effected by some long, pointed instrument, with a chissel- 
shaped end. They had no gunpowder in those days to blast 
the rocks, and they seem not to have understood how to split 
them out with wedges, but they were literally chisseled out by 
persevering labor. The work of cutting out this block was 
nearly completed, for the two grooves, one from the front, and 
the other from the side, at right angles with each other, had 
been carried nearly to the necessary depth to allow the upright 
mass to be pried from its resting place. The marks of the tool 
were as perfect as if made but yesterday. But the workmen 
left it and never returned. Why? Who can tell? What a 
field for the rovings of imagination the question opens ! Was 
it found just at that peculiar juncture that no more stone were 
needed ? Did some besieging army encamp before the walls, 
and the consternations of war stop the work of public improve- 
ments ? or did death palsy the stalwart arm that had so vigor- 
ously wielded the implement of labor ? 

This great cavern lies under Bezetha. We spent some time 
in wandering about the interior. Dr. Barclay tells us he meas- 
ured from the entrance to the termination, the longest way, 



104 



THE HOLY LAND. 



seven hundred and fifty feet ; and found it upwards of three 
thousand feet in circumference. It was evidently the great 
quarry from which the ancient inhabitants took their stone for 
building the city. The material is a soft, white limestone, 
easily worked, but hardening on exposure to the weather. 
Here, no doubt, was Solomon's great quarry, from which he 
took the stone for the Temple. The reasons assigned for this 
belief are : first, the stone is the same as that of some portions 
of the old wall still remaining; second, an opening could 
easily have been made on the side of the quarry next the 
Temple, and the stone conveniently transported to the Temple 
area ; third, the immense piles of chippings found in these 
caverns show that the stone were not only quarried, but dressed 
and finished here, corresponding with the account that they 
were brought to the Temple ready to be laid in their places, 
without the necessity of hammer or graving tool; fourth, the 
vast extent of the quarry, and the amount of stone that must 
have been worked out there, and the size of some of the 
blocks ; fifth, the extreme age of that part of this same quarry 
lying outside of the wall, where extensive excavations have 
been made, and which dates back in legends and tradi- 
tions to the time of Jeremiah; and, lastly, that there are no 
other great quarries near the city from which the material 
could have been taken. So here we are where Solomon's 
workmen labored, and prepared the stones for the magnificent 
Temple of God ! 

It is now a solemn and gloomy abode. Large numbers of 
bats hang from the ceiling, and, aroused by your approach, 
flit about your head. Occasionally a pile of bones, brought in 
by the jackalls, arrest your attention, and the giving way of 
the dirt beneath your feet indicates the places where they bur- 
rowed. The water trickles from the lofty ceiling, and the lapse 
of ages has hung the roof with sparry incrustations. The 
Crusaders have been here, and traced crosses and other devices 
upon the walls. Various emotions are excited as you wander 
about by the light of your flickering tapers. You are aston- 
ished at the extent of the excavations, awed by the grandeur 
of the lofty ceilings, impressed with the pervading gloom and 



RETUKN TO THE CITY. 



105 



silence, and bewildered amid the reveries the associations and 
remembrances of the past inspire. 

RETURN TO THE LIGHT OP DAY. 

Here we are again amid the blazing sunlight of heaven, 
breathing the free air, fragrant with the perfume of the great 
beds of wild flowers, that, despite the hand of neglect and 
desolation, spring up all around the city. What a time we 
have had wandering among the cold tombs, and through the 
vaulted, subterranean chambers of this wonderful city. We 
are now through with this, and will turn our steps to more 
cheerful places, and our eyes to more pleasing sights. We have 
soiled our garments, and the light lime dust of the vaults, like 
flour, has been sifted over us ; the sun is creeping down the 
western slope of Judah's hills, and we are admonished to seek 
our homes. 

It is pleasant to linger about thy walls, O Jerusalem ! How 
every foot of thy soil seems hallowed by the sacred associa- 
tions of the past! The affections of the sons of Abraham 
cluster about thee, and the Christian gazes long and earnestly 
upon thy mountains and valleys, thy fountains and towers, 
thy domes and battlements. But w^e must not linger here. 
The gates close at sunset, and we must get within the walls. 
ITow watch, and you will have another instructive illustration 
of Scripture in 

THE SHEPHERD AND HIS FLOCK. 

They have been out during the day wandering about the 
hills and valleys, and now, as night falls gently on the land- 
scape, they seek safety and protection within the gates, where 
the flocks are safely folded for the night. There comes a shep- 
herd with his numerous bleating family. A part of them are 
white long-wooled sheep, and part black long-eared goats. 
Sometimes it becomes necessary to separate them. " Then shall 
he separate the righteous from the wicked, as a shepherd di- 
videth his sheep from the goats." See : the shepherd goes 
before, and the sheep hear his voice and follow him. Try and 
imitate his call, and see if they will leave him. l^o I " A 



106 



THE HOLY LAND. 



stranger will they not follow, for they know not the voice of 
strangers." What a striking illustration of our Savior's teach- 
ings ! How often, as I stood at eventide, and watched these 
faithful shepherds leading their flocks to secure folds within 
the walls of Jerusalem, my mind was carried forward to the 
close of this world's long day, and the approaching night of 
eternity, when the good Shepherd shall bring his beloved and 
redeemed flock within the gates of the glorious city of God, 
and give them a secure resting place in the Jerusalem on high. 
As they approach the gate, the armed sentinel steps aside to 
give shepherd and flock a welcome admittance. " To him the 
porter openeth." So I thought again, when the great Shepherd 
with his redeemed flock shall approach the gates of the ever- 
lasting city, the voice of the omnipotent Jehovah will be heard : 
" Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up ye everlast- 
ing doors, and the king of glory shall come in." How many 
rich and instructive lessons we are learning as we wander about 
this city — voices from the tombs, voices from the customs of 
the country that for so many generations have remained un- 
changed. 

We have had a laborious, but an interesting and instructive 
day. We have seen and learned much, thanks to the kindness 
of Dr. Barclay; we shall remember him with gratitude for the 
aid he has rendered us in this and other walks about the city. 
We must get in before dark. One of the police regulations of 
the city forbids any person being in the streets after dark, un- 
less he carries a lantern. Darkness and crime are supposed to 
be hand in hand associates. "Let your light so shine that 
others may see your good works." So as we have no lantern, 
and it is getting dark, we will hasten along, first through the 
street of Mount Zion, then up the Yia Dolorosa, across the 
street of the Patriachs into the Christian quarters, and thence 
to our convent home. 

THE PAST or RAMEDAN. 

Saturday Evening, March 23. Take your Bible and come 
with me upon the house-top, and let us spend the closing hour 
of day in reading and meditation. The sun is just sinking 



ON THE HOUSE-TOP. 



107 



away in the clear, blue, western sky — lower and lower — lie is 
out of sight. Hark ! the thundering boom of cannon from the 
old citadel of David rolls over the city, and echoes back from 
Zion and Olivet. Scarcely has the sound died away in the dis- 
tance ere the air is rent with the vociferations of a clamorous 
multitude — the shout of the many thousands of men, women 
and children that congregate in the Mohammedan quarter of 
the city. It is one prolonged and deafening strain, rising even 
above the cannon's roar. What does it mean? This is the 
time of the great fast of Eamedan, imposed by the Prophet on 
all the faithful. It occurs always at this period of the year, 
and continues one entire lunar month, commencing with the 
change of the moon. The fast is held each day from sunrise 
to sunset. ^Teither smoking, drinking or eating is allowed. 
Shops are kept open, and business goes on as usual, though 
many of the more devout carry their beads and count off an 
extra number of prayers. 

At sunset the rigid fast of the day closes, and the night is 
given up to drinking, feasting and revelry. The gun we heard 
was the sunset signal ; the multitudinous shouts that rent the 
air were the acclamations of joy at the announcement of the 
hour that lifted the ban, and opened the door for sensual indul- 
gence. 

To-morrow will be our first Sabbath in Jerusalem. It is 
Palm Sunday, and we shall have an opportunity to visit the 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and witness some of the impos- 
ing ceremonies there ; but more than that, we shall stand on 
Calvary, and visit the sepulchre where the Savior was laid. 



108 



THE HOLY LAND. 



CHAPTER Y. 

Palm Sunday — Calvary — The Holy Sepulchre — Eeligious 
Ceremonies, and Holy Places. 

March 24:th. A Sabbath in Jerusalem ! Hail, holy morning, 
hail! In ancient times the returning Sabbath in Jerusalem 
brought a "calm and holy clay of rest. The gates were shut; 
the tumult of business ceased ; the haunts of pleasure were de- 
serted; the voice of mirth was hushed, and the solemnity of 
the day of God rested on Olivet and Zion. All conspired to 
impress the dweller in the city of God with the stern reality 
of the sacred law: ''Remember the Sabbath day to keep it 
holy." Alas, how changed! The commandments of the 
Prophet bring no hallowed day of rest. While Moslem and 
Jew pursue their accustomed avocations, we will join vdth the 
Christian population in their observance of the day. There 
will be Protestant worship at the rooms of the American con- 
sulate at 2 o'clock; we will spend the morning hour at the 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is 

palm SUNDAY. 

The Catholic Christians will observe the day with appropri- 
ate .ceremonies. A little more than eighteen hundred years 
ago the Savior was at Bethany, on the opposite side of Olivet, 
on his way to Jerusalem, to unite in the feast of the Passover. 
As he came from Bethany around the slope of Olivet towards 
Jerusalem, his friends set him on a colt, and the multitude took 
branches of palm trees, and came forth to meet him, crying, 
''Hosanna to the Son of David." The celebration to-day is 
the anniversary of this last entry of the Savior into J erusalem, 
just before his suffering and crucifixion. A short walk from 



SUNDAY IN JERUSALEM. 



109 



our convent, marked upon tlie plan of Jerusalem by a ^, brings 
us to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, marked with a f, the 
reputed 

PLACE OF THE CRUCIFIXION. 

If there is any ground about J erusalem that may be consid- 
ered holy, we are now approaching it. If there is one spot on 
earth more sacred than another, it is the place consecrated by 
the blood of Jesus, and hallowed by his repose in death. But 
is this really the place? J^o one of the so-called ^' Holy Pla- 
ces'^ has been the occasion of fiercer disputes and more pro- 
tracted debates than this. Eminent men have been arrayed 
against each other, and still the question is an open one. As I 
have said before, in coming here I did not expect to settle these 
controverted questions of geography and topography, of sites 
and dates. Dr. Eobinson, upon the one side, and Mr. Williams 
upon the other, have said all that can well be said; and to them 
the captious or disputatious reader is referred. Tradition has 
marked this as the site from the very earliest ages of the Chris- 
tian era. There has never been a time, even during the days 
of fiercest and bloodiest persecution, that some faithful ones 
have not lingered around this great center of Christian attrac- 
tion. The memory of Jesus was at once embalmed in the af- 
fections of his disciples. Would they, or their successors, have 
been likely to have forgotten the place where transpired the 
last great act in the sacred drama that gave life and hope to a 
ruined world ? Besides, why need we doubt, where faith can 
do no harm ? If it be right to revere the memory of an earth- 
ly friend ; to plant flowers upon the grave ; to adorn the spot 
where sleeps a dear father, a sainted mother, or a beloved 
child ; to go there, and even weep there, can it be wrong to 
hallow the spot where the best and dearest of all friends laid 
down his life for us ? or is it idolatry to build a shrine to his 
memory ? In visiting Calvary and the Sepulchre, I did not 
wish to go laden with a burden of distracting and unprofitable 
questions. I preferred to give memory the free use of her an- 
gelic pinions, that I might be borne into the very presence of 
my bleeding Savior; to look upon him with an undimmed eye 



110 



THE HOLY LAND. 



of faith ; to feel that I was standing beneath the very drop- 
pings of his blood, upon the very soil that witnessed the last 
great struggle, when he came forth victorious from the battle — 
the triumphant conqueror of death. Come, then, with me to 
Calvary and the Sepulchre. 

The devout Christian visitor, as he seeks the place where the 
Lord died and was buried — looks for the hill of Calvary, the 
garden and the rock-hewn tomb — has pictured in his imagina- 
tion some retired place of rugged rock and sloping hill, of sol- 
emn shade and gloomy glen, where nature yet wears her wild 
and unpruned robes. How deep his disappointment as he ap- 
proaches the place, and finds the hand of art has so trans- 
formed and disguised it ! The sacred locality is now all cov- 
ered over and inclosed within the fort-like walls and massive 
dome of an enormous church. The Holy Sepulchre is en- 
shrined in casements of polished marble, surrounded by great 
wax candles, and hung with pictures, images, crucifixes, and 
gold and silver lamps. The city, with its walls, lanes and 
houses, closely encompass the place, excluding every appear- 
ance of natural scenery, while the court of the church is made 
a great bazar for the sale of beads, rosaries, amulets and rel- 
ics. It seems difficult at first to rise above these strange sur- 
roundings, and feel that here was once the wild, rugged soil of 
Calvary, and the cultivated garden of J oseph, in which he had 
hewn for himself a tomb. This great pile of buildings is 

THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 

The history of this church is a long one, and as varied as the 
fortunes of the city, of which it is now one of the most attrac- 
tive features. It appears that when the devoted Helena, moth- 
er of Constantine, came to Jerusalem seeking to honor the 
memory of the Savior, there stood upon this spot a heathen 
temple dedicated to Yenus. This, it is supposed, had been 
built by pagan Romans out of hostility to Christ, and with a 
view of so defiling a place revered by his devoted followers as 
to make it an abomination to them. This pagan shrine was 
torn down by order of Constantine, and a Christian church 
erected upon the spot, commenced A. D. 325 ; completed A. D. 



VISIT TO CALYAEY. 



Ill 



335. This Christian mouument stood two hundred and seven- 
ty-nine years. In A. D. 614, it was entirely destroyed by the 
Persians. Sixteen years after, it was re-built upon a still larger 
and more magnificent scale. A spacious rotunda, with a huge 
dome supported upon twelve massive columns, was built around 
and over the Sepulchre, and a portion of the church was ex- 
tended over Calvary, covering the supposed place of the cruci- 
fixion. This was an age of superstition and of blind devotion 
to relics, and other chapels were built, extending in different 
directions, in honor of other supposed sacred localities. 

This pile of buildings, that had been enlarged and adorned 
by successive dignitaries of church and state, was demolished 
and made a complete heap of ruins by the bigoted Caliph Ha- 
kim, in 1048. Thirty-eight years the hard hand of Moslem 
despotism held in check the desire of the Christian to again 
adorn Calvary and the Sepulchre. Then the work of recon- 
struction commenced, but many hindrances and embarrass- 
ments impeded the enlargement and prosecution of the work. 
In the year 1099, the Crusaders took Jerusalem, and under 
Christian rule, the church was remoddled, enlarged, enriched, 
and new shrines added. The subsequent fortunes of Jerusa- 
lem did not seriously affect the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 
It remained as the Crusaders found and improved it till 1808, 
when the calamity of an accidental fire accomplished what war 
had often done. The great rotunda was destroyed; the huge 
dome fell in, piling its burning timbers over the canopy of the 
Sepulchre. The external wall of marble that had been built 
over it was reduced to lime, but the Sepulchre itself escaped 
unharmed. Phcenix-like, the majestic dome again arose from 
the ashes of its former ruins, and the church, as it now stands, 
was dedicated in 1810. 

THE CHURCH AS IT NOW IS. 

The massive doorway by which entrance is obtained is on 
the south, and is reached by a very narrow and crooked street, 
crowded with merchants' stalls. This approach to the build- 
ing is considerably higher than the ground floor, and a descent 
by a broad flight of rude stone steps brings us into an open 



112 



THE HOLY LAND. 



paved court. This court appears to be a great mart of mer- 
chandise in "holy" things — a sort of Christian exchange, where 
beads, crucifixes, and relics of every kind are spread in tempt- 
ing array before the pilgrim visitors. As you enter this court, 
the whole front elevation of the massive structure is before 
you. The work is heavy, but it has a grand and imposing as- 
pect. On the right and left of the court are portions of the 
walls of the G-reek convent, which is built in immediate con- 
nection with the church. In one corner rises the massive bell 
tower, an imposing pile of stone, the top of which appears to 
be in a dilapidated condition. It is said to have been formerly 
five stories high, but is now reduced to three. The great dou- 
ble doorway is surmounted by an antique looking arch, with 
deep moldings and elaborate carvings. On the architraves are 
richly wrought sculptures, in bold relief, representing our 
Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. But we will not loiter 
upon the threshold. Let us enter and examine first 

THE INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH. 

One of the first things that arrests our attention, is a guard 
of twenty to thirty Turkish soldiers, in the uniform of their 
country, armed with guns to which gleaming bayonets are 
fixed. Some of them stand by the doorway, and you pass be- 
tween them as you enter. Others are loitering here and there 
through difterent portions of the great structure. Why is 
this? The Turks are the rulers and guardians of the city, and 
the government may be said to be a military despotism. Here 
are thousands of Jews, thousands of Christians, and thousands 
of Mohammedans. Among them are a great variety of con- 
flicting opinions and interests. Deeply rooted prejudices and 
jealousies are constantly sowing seeds of uneasiness and dis- 
^ content, and a terrible harvest of discord and contention may 
at any moment be the result. The reins of government are 
held with a tight hand. Turkish soldiers guard the gates, a 
police of Turkish soldiers promenade the streets by night and 
by day, and Turkish soldiers gather about every place of pub- 
lic resort, and strange as it may seem, they keep the keys of 



CHUECH OF THE HOLT SEPULCHKE. 



113 



this Christian church, and lock the doors at night and open 
them in the morning. 

Think also of the great variety of Christian sects that here 
congregate — that under this roof, and in connection with this 
immense pile of buildings, have their chapels, altars and para- 
phernalia of worship. One portion of the building belongs to 
the Latins, or Roman Catholic Christians, another to the 
Greeks, another to the Armenians. Here, too, are chapels of 
the Maronites, Georgians, Copts, Jacobites, Abyssinians, and 
other minor sects. "While these all have separate portions of 
the building where they have exclusive rights, some of what are 
considered the more holy portions of the structure belong in 
common to all, and they have to arrange among themselves 
the time when each shall be allowed to perform at the conse- 
crated shrines their peculiar rites. These all are but men — 
many of them unsanctified men — and it would not be strange 
if controversies should arise. This is often the case, and at 
times so fierce have these dissensions raged, strange as it may 
seem, in the very temple of the Prince of Peace, and on the 
very ground sanctified by his holy blood, these contentions have 
broken out into fierce and unholy strife, and these soldiers of a 
foreign religion have been under the necessity of quelling 
bloody feuds at the point of the bayonet. Connected with this 
church are a great variety of 

LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS. 

"We have already seen that this church was originally built 
as a monument to honor the place of the Savior's crucifixion 
and burial. During the long period of the dark ages, when 
bhnd superstition and wild fanaticism seem to have usurped the 
throne of both sound reason and ardent piety, a mania for holy 
relics and holy places pervaded the Christian world. The 
sharp eyes of religious devotees discovered and connected with 
this memorable locality numerous holy relics," and ^' holy 
spots," some of them of so foolish and puerile a character, they 
could only provoke the mirth and awaken the contempt of the 
enlightened ; some of them of a more grave and serious char- 



114 



THE HOLY LAND. 



acter, that seem still to retain a firm hold upon the more cred- 
ulous and superstitious. 

Among the former of these may be mentioned the altar of 
Melchisedek — the place where Isaac was offered — the place 
where Adam was buried, and from whence his skull leaped out 
at the time of the crucifixion, and over which a chapel was 
built — the sweating pillar to which Christ was bound when he 
was scourged — the pillar that casts no shadow at noon of the 
summer solstice, thus indicating that it is in the very center of the 
world — the silver cup which Christ used in instituting the Eu- 
charist, and the sponge the soldiers filled with vinegar and pre- 
sented to him on the cross, both of which one ancient pilgrim 
says he saw and kissed — the spear that pierced the Savior's 
side — the prison of the Savior — the spot where Mary Magda- 
lene stood during the crucifixion, and where his mother and 
John stood — the place where Jesus appeared to Mary after the 
resurrection — the precise place where the soldiers cast lots for 
the Savior's coat, etc., etc. What a list ! And yet, while many 
have made a serious matter of these things, and involved the 
whole body connected with them in an indiscriminate charge 
of fanaticism or hypocrisy, of superstition and delusion, I do 
not suppose that any but the most ignorant and credulous have 
ever really beheved in them, or been imposed upon by them. 
Under the influence of an increasing intelligence, this list of 
holy wonders has been dwindling down ; some of them are no 
longer shown, and others are not expected to be believed, unless 
by the most stupid and over credulous. And yet, with regard 
to a few localities in this sacred pile, it may be said they have 
assumed an importance, and the legends and stories connected 
with them have become so interwoven with the traditions and 
faith of some of these Christian sects, they may be worthy of 
special notice. One of these is 

THE CHAPEL OF THE INVENTION OP THE CROSS. 

This opens from the main body of the church into a rocky 
vault, excavated in the hill side, twenty feet across. I find vari- 
ous versions of the story, and many strange incidents connected 
with it, but the substance is about as follows : The devoted 



DISCOVEKY OF THE CEOSS. 



115 



Helena, in her zeal to serve the cause of Christ, came to Jeru- 
salem about three hundred and twenty-five years after Christ, 
gathering information upon all points connected with the his- 
tory and death of the Savior. Finding a belief prevalent that 
the three crosses were thrown into a pit close by the place 
where the suffering victims expired, she caused diligent search 
to be instituted, and excavations to be made under her own im- 
mediate supervision. Her zealous efforts, it is said, were 
crowned with success. In this very pit, which now constitutes 
the " Chapel of the Invention," three crosses were turned up, 
and with them, Pilate's inscription, placed over the head of 
Jesus. Some versions of the story also assert that four nails 
were found, supposed to be the identical ones upon which the 
Savior hung. What became of two of these nails is not known. 
The other two have a strange history. The devoted mother 
had a costly crown wrought for her imperial son Constantino, 
portions of which, more honored than gold and diamonds, were 
wrought from these two precious nails ! Some accounts say 
that the Savior's cross was distinguished from the others by the 
inscription of Pilate, found in immediate connection with it ; 
others, that it was detached, and it could not be determined to 
which it belonged, and the Savior's cross was discovered by the 
following strange event : A lady in the vicinity was danger- 
ously sick ; the crosses were brought in contact with her. Two 
of them had no effect; at the touch of the third one she rose 
immediately from her bed entirely cured ! The miracle was 
conclusive ; the wood that had touched her, and that was in- 
vested with such wonderful power, was the true cross ! 

The story of the nails, and of the miracle, and some other 
remarkable things connected with it, appear to be legendary 
embellishments, to be received or rejected at one's option ; but 
the principal fact of the finding of the cross by Helena, is gene- 
rally believed among Eastern Christians. I conversed, while in 
Jerusalem, with an intelligent Catholic priest from Ireland, who 
believed not only the story of the finding of the cross, but also 
of the miracle of the healing of the sick woman. To such 
ones — and I suppose there are many such — this Chapel of the 
Invention of the Cross would of course be a revered and sacred 



116 



THE HOLY LAND. 



place. This cliapel belongs to the Latins, but the other sects 
are allowed to visit it and worship in it. Then there is 

THE CHAPEL OE HELENA. 

This is a costly room, and decorated at great expense. It is 
partly hewn in the rock, and is one of the most striking and 
picturesque portions of the great church. It is sixteen feet 
below the level of the rotunda floor, and is fifty-one feet by 
forty-three. It is entered by a narrow doorway, and a flight 
of twenty-nine steps, partly hewn in the rock. The interior is 
arranged in the form of a Greek cross, the only light enter- 
ing through a cupola in the roof. The cupola and roof are 
supported by large, thick, dwarf-looking columns, with huge 
capitals of ancient Byzantine form. In this church is an altar 
dedicated to St. Dimas, the Penitent Thief, and another one to 
St. Helena. The entrance to the Chapel of the Invention is 
from the south side of this, and is entered by a descent of 
twelve steps, hewn in the solid rock. I have described these 
two chapels, to give the reader some idea of the various depart- 
ments here clustered together, that make up the Church of the 
Holy Sepulchre. Here, clustered around one spot, and under 
one great mother roof, is Mount Calvary and the Garden ; the 
Chapel of the Sacrifice of Isaac ; Chapel of the Altar of Mel- 
chisedek; Chapel of St. Helena; Chapel of the Invention; 
Chapel of the Three Crosses; Chapel of the Division of Gar- 
ments; Greek Choir, occupying the center of the looiid; the 
rooms of the Latin Convent; Greek Convent; Chapel of the 
Maronites; Chapel of the Georgians; Chapel of the Copts; 
Chapel of the Jacobites; Chapel of the Abyssiuians ; Cha.pel 
and rooms of the Armenians, and, the great central place of 
attraction, the monstrous rotunda and dome covering the Holy 
Sepulchre. It is, indeed, a great collection of churches and 
chapels; of choirs, naves, vestrys and transepts; of shrines, 
altars and sanctuaries — the great Cathedral of the Christian 
w^orld — where lights are always burning, incense always smok- 
ing, the voice of chanting and praise always resounding. 

But we came here to witness the ceremonies of worship, and 
to visit the two great time-honored localities of the place, the 



PALM SUNDAY. 



117 



Cross and the Sepulchre. Having taken a general survey of 
the building, let us attend to what is passing around us. The 
great rotunda is sixty-seven feet in diameter. The dome is 
supported on eighteen massive piers, and has a large opening 
in the top, through which a flood of light is poured upon the 
interior. We said it was Palm Sunday — one of the great fes- 
tive days of the year. It is the commencement of passion 
week, the near approach of Easter. Pilgrims are now assem- 
bling in Jerusalem from all parts of the Christian world. See 
what a motley crowd are here gathered. The floor of the 
great rotunda, the galleries above, the aisles and transepts 
leading away to the diflferent chapels, seem one living mass of 
human beings. Here are all nationalities, all shades of com- 
plexion, all forms and hues of dress. In the midst of the gener- 
al confusion, each is permitted to speak his own tongue, to 
worship in his own way, to resort to the shrine that best ac- 
cords with his own peculiar religious views. Armed soldiers 
move about among the multitude to preserve order. How 
changed the scene from eighteen hundred years ago ! Then 
soldiers stood around the dying Son of God, to aid in consum- 
mating the murderous deed ; now, around this same spot they 
gather to protect those who would do him homage. Then the 
multitude cried: "Away with him! Crucify him! Crucify 
him ! ! " l^ow they sing : 

"AH hail the power of Jesus' name, 
Let angels prostrate fall, 
Bring forth the royal diadem 
And crown Him — Lord of All." 

But while all conspire to honor Jesus, who, amid this uni- 
versal confusion, this clangor of human voices, and jargon of 
discordant sounds, can maintain a devotional spirit, or be im- 
pressed with the solemnities of worship? The Greeks had 
formed a long procession, encircling the whole rotunda, car- 
rying costly and curious banners of various devices, represent- 
ing scripture scenes. A large company of boys went before, 
having lighted candles ; the dignitaries of the church wore red 
silk and damask robes, profusely trimmed with gold lace. Some 
carried censors smoking with incense ; others sprinkled conse- 



118 



THE HOLY LANi>. 



crated rose-water upon the crowd ; another bore an immense 
cross of burnished gold, while the Patriarch, arrayed in sump- 
tuous robes, wore upon his head a crown studded with jewels, 
and sparkling with diamonds, richly set in gold. In the Latin 
department of the church was an equally rich display of costly 
robes and dazzling banners, while the whole multitude carried 
branches of palm, waving them in the air in unison with their 
songs of triumph. The Grreek procession commenced a solemn 
march round the rotunda, singing in a peculiar nasal strain, 
destitute alike of melody and devotion. The loud peals of the 
Latin organ came mingling its echoes with their sharp, drawl- 
ing, mouthing strains. The Abyssinian priest beat his cym- 
bals ; the Armenian uttered his prayer ; the Syrian read aloud 
his Arabic ritual ; the Coptic friar drawled in plaintive tones his 
devotions ; lawless spectators walked about, gazing and talking; 
from the lofty galleries above, and the deep subterranean 
chapels below, there seemed to issue a strange jargon of con- 
fused and unintelligible sounds. Such was the scene I witness- 
ed upon my first introduction into the Church of the Holy 
Sepulchre. It was Falm Sunday. It was the celebration of 
Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem ; one of the great fes- 
tivals of the church ! Was it devotion, that, like holy incense, 
could rise to Heaven ? Was it music, to which angels could 
tune their harps ? Had Jesus sat on yonder brow of Olivet, as 
he sat on the day the procession led him to the city, would he 
not now, as then, at the sight of a system of worship that had 
lost its spirit and power, have wept for the glory departed ? 

But we have another errand here. Forgetting all this osten- 
tatious display, closing our eyes to this glittering pageantry, 
let us seek the place where our Savior died, and give ourselves 
up to the emotions such a place is calculated to awaken. 
» Pushing my way through the crowd, I reached the side of the 
rotunda, and ascended a flight of twenty-one steps upon the 
side of Calvary to 

THE PLACE OF THE CRUCIFIXION! 

We often hear Calvary spoken of as a mount. It is not so 
called in the Bible, neither is the term hill there applied to it. 



MOUNT CALVAKY. 



119 



It seems to have been upon a slight elevation, rather upon the 
side of a hill. How high the elevation was, or what its orig- 
inal shape, it seems impossible now to tell. The summit and 
sides of the elevation have been graded down, and the depres- 
sions filled up, to accommodate the surface to the immense 
church that now covers it. The hill, like all others about 
Jerusalem, is a mass of limestone rock. 

Having ascended the steps, I entered a low vaulted chamber, 
with a marble floor. It belongs to the Greeks, and is deco- 
rated in a most gaudy style. The walls are adorned with pic- 
tures, massive wax candles rise from their stately sockets, and 
a profusion of gold and silver lamps are suspended from the 
ceiling. It is the Chapel of the Crucifixion ! At the eastern end 
is a platform, ten feet long and six feet wide, elevated about 
eighteen inches above the floor. On this platform stands a 
richly decorated altar; under it is a round hole in the marble 
floor, cased with silver ; beneath that hole is the reputed spot 
upon which the cross of Jesus stood ! This may be defining 
the locality too definitely to suit the skeptical visitor, and yet 
that this is Calvary, is beheved by a large portion of the 
Christian world, and has been believed from the days of the 
earliest written records upon the subject, and those records 
were based upon the current faith of the then Christian dwell- 
ers at Jerusalem. Why need I attempt to disprove it? I 
might wish to strip it of these artificial appendages and adorn- 
ments — to a devout worshiper, they add nothing to its at- 
tractions. But I will close my eyes to all these gaudy trap- 
pings of human genius and art, and, aided by the visions of 
a holy faith, endeavor to see it as those saw it who came with 
the blessed Savior to witness his last scene of earthly agony 
and torment. O Calvary ! thou art least of all the sacred hills 
that cluster about the City of God, and yet thou art greatest 
of them all! Thou art invested with a moral grandeur and 
glory that belongs to no other spot. Thou hast witnessed 
agony such as even Gethsemane never knew! Thou hast 
witnessed a power that rent the rocks, opened the tombs, 
and shook even yonder mount of God, rending asunder the 

consecrated veil that concealed the Holy of Holies! Over 
8 



120 



THE HOLY LAjS^D. 



thee gathered an appalling darkness, and yet from thee has 
gone forth a radiance that is kindling earth into glory! 
Calvary ! what a scene thou didst witness when darkness gath- 
ered around thee, and the dying Son of God cried out in 
anguish : ^' My God ! my God ! why hast thou forsaken me ! " 
And yet, what lessons thou hast taught us — of holy resig- 
nation — of calm and patient suflering — of forbearance and 
forgiveness — of love for the disobedient and the erring when 
Jesus hung upon thy summit, and thou didst receive thy holy 
consecration of blood ! O Savior ! on this spot what indignities 
were heaped upon thee ! When was ever good requited with 
greater evil, or love with keener hatred than when thine ene- 
mies here nailed thee to the cross ? Yet as the heavens gath- 
ered blackness, and the darkness of injustice and oppression 
thickened upon thee, it only served to add lustre to the halo 
of thy moral glory, like the evening star, shining brighter and 
brighter, as the shades of night deepen upon it ! 

THE HOLY SEPULCHRE 

Is the next place of attraction. John says: "ITowinthe 
place where he was crucified there was a garden ; and in the 
garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. 
There laid they Jesus, therefore, because of the Jews' prepara- 
tion day, for the Sepulchre was nigh at hand." (John xix. 41, 
43.) This places the Sepulchre in close connection with the 
Cross, and we have not far to go. Descending the flight of 
steps by which my ascent to this place was made, and which 
would be the hill-side, were these portions of the building torn 
away, I was once more in the great rotunda. It was for the 
Sepulchre this great rotunda was built, and beneath the center 
of that spacious dome is the consecrated place. Much would I 
preferred to have seen it in the unadorned simplicity of the 
morning of the resurrection. From the very depths of my 
heart I could say : 

" O ! for that garden in its simple guise, 
Where she, the earliest of His mourners came — 
Came ere the stars of Syria's cloudless skies 
Grew pale before their morning burst of flame." 



THE TOMB OF JESUS. 



121 



But we have to visit these places as they are, not as we 
would have them. And why should we vex and fret ourselves, 
because worldly pride, and love of ostentatious show, or even 
bigotry and superstition, may have spent their misguided zeal 
npon them, and gathered foolish relics and legends about them ? 
Should they hinder the warm adoration of the pious heart? 
Do they detract aught from the conclusiveness of the evidences 
that define and establish the locality? Supposing the Christian 
traveler, on his arrival at Jerusalem, inquiring for the place 
where Jesus was entombed, should be shown a rocky recess in 
some out-of-the-way, secluded place, ruined and neglected, sel- 
dom visited by the foot of man. "What would he think? 
"Who," he would say, "has kept the history of this place? 
In my own land the tombs of the common dead are better kept 
and cared for, and for our honored ones we build mausoleums, 
and rear up monuments. If this is the place where He, the 
conquering son of God, was laid, why is it thus deserted and 
neglected?" Would not the very fact of such neglect and ob- 
scurity do more to shake his faith in the certainty of the local- 
ity, than all the superstitions and legends that cluster about 
this place could ever do ? True, the devout worshiper, in com- 
ing to Calvary as it is, would not 

" Miss the gold encrusted shrine, 
Or incense fume's intoxicating spell." 

To him the wandering breezes of heaven might bring music 
richer than the organ's notes, and the palm-trees' shade be more 
welcome than yonder lofty dome; but the "proud shafts of 
Helena's Colonade" need not disturb us, or render unaccept- 
able to God the incense of a grateful and adoring heart. 

THE SEPULCHRE AS IT NOW IS. 

Though the Sepulchre was originally a grotto cut in the 
rock, after the fashion of the Jewish tombs, the visitor is sur- 
prised to find it not only detached from the hill-side, and all 
above ground, but elevated a step or two from the level of the 
floor. The necessary changes that were made in the level of 
the ground to accommodate the church, accounts for this. The 



122 



THE HOLY LAND. 



earth and rock around the Sepulchre have been cut away, and 
what was probably once a cave in the hill-side, now looks like 
a small room or closet above ground. 'Nor is this all; the hand 
of art has still more transformed it. This rock-hewn cave, 
standing as it does in the center of the great rotunda, and direct- 
ly under the eye of the monstrous dome, is all covered over by a 
small building of yellow and white marble, twenty-six feet long 
and eighteen feet broad ; a dome in the form of a crown sur- 
mounting the top. This house of the Sepulchre is profusely 
ornamented; the whole exterior nearly covered with pictures, 
crucifixes and images, and hung round with gold and silver 
lamps, while standing by its side are several monstrous wax 
candles, nearly as large as a man's body, and eight or ten feet 
high. 

I passed through a low, narrow opening in the wall, only 
large enough to admit one person at a time, into a small cham- 
ber, ten or twelve feet square. This was the outer room or ves- 
tibule of the tomb, and is now called the "Chapel of the An- 
gel," from the supposition it was here the angel sat after hav- 
ing rolled away the stone. At the western side of this room 
was a low, narrow door, the opening to the tomb itself. Like 
Peter of old, I first stooped down and looked in ; then bending 
nearly to the ground, and crowding through the opening, I 
was in the Holy Sepulchre ! It is a small room, six feet one 
way and seven feet the other, and has a dome roof, supported 
by marble pillars. Though this vault is said to be hewn in the 
rock, not a vestige of the native rock is to be seen. The floor, 
walls and ceiling are all lined with white polished marble. 
Forty-two lamps of gold and silver, richly wrought, are sus- 
pended about this little grotto, kept continually burning, fill- 
ing the place with a flood of mellow light, while much of the 
time the sweet fragrance of smoking incense fills the air. But 
what were all these things to me ? Where was the place they 
laid him ? A little couch or elevation of stone, about two feet 
high, runs along the right side of the tomb as you enter, now 
covered by a plain marble slab. As this was intended for the 
reception of the dead, on it, no doubt, the body of the en- 
tombed Savior was laid ! What pen can describe the deep 



THE HOLY SEPULCHKE. 



123 



emotions that trembled in the heart, and suffused the eye as I 
gazed upon the spot? Falling upon my knees, I leaned my 
head upon the marble covering, and poured out my soul in 
grateful adoration to God. I had promised my people I would 
remember them and pray for them when I stood on Sinai, and 
when I bowed by the tomb in the garden. Amid the sub- 
lime grandeurs of that mountain-top I had stood, and there I 
had redeemed my pledge, and now that I had reached this hal- 
lowed spot, I was not unmindful of my vow. 

My visit was brief. A throng of pilgrims was coming and 
going, crowding; the little sanctuary, and jostling against me. 
But 1 heeded them not. How much of the past — of the fu- 
ture — was crowded into the reflections of that short season of 
communion with the Son of God, as I bowed my head upon his 
tomb ! I saw his mangled, bleeding form taken from the cross 
on yonder hill-side, and borne by his afflicted disciples to this 
lone receptacle of the dead. I saw the ponderous stone rolled 
to the door. I heard the tread of the watchful sentinels as 
they paced to and fro. What a weary and sorrowful Sabbath 
was that to the heart-broken and disconsolate disciples! "With 
anxious hearts, the weeping Mar^^s watched the approaching 
dawn, that they might come and embalm the body of their be- 
loved Lord. But while night lay upon Olivet and Gethsemane, 
and sleep had hushed to silence the tumultuous city, this lone 
■sepulchre of the dead w^as the last great battle-field of the con- 
quering Son of God. Here he grappled with death, the last 
enemy of man, in his own dark domiuions. The last stern con- 
test was over; the victory was won; death was vanquished, and 
the prey wrested from his grasp. The victorious conqueror 
came thundering at the door of the tomb. An angel from the 
courts of glory answered the summons. A greater than Pilate 
broke the seal, and rolled back the massive stone. The trem- 
bling, terrified keepers fell senseless to the earth. Who is this 
that comes forth from the contest, majestic in mien, glorious in 
apparel, his arm vested with the power of Omnipotence, and his 
eye kindled with the glory of Heaven ? It is thy God, Is- 
rael ! It is thy Savior, Christian ! The great question has 
been settled; life and immortality brought to light! A great 



124 



THE HOLY LAND. 



highway has been opened from the portals of the grave be- 
neath, to the everlasting gates of glory on high. 

" Lo, see on death's bewildering wave 

Tlie rainbow Hope arise, 
A bridge of glory o'er the grave, 

That bends beyond the skies." 

" death; where is thy sting ? grave, where is thy victo- 
ry ? Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory, through our 
Lord J esus Christ.'^ 

My visit to the Holy Sepulchre was ended. I arose from my 
knees, and leaving the marks of my tears upon the marble 
slab, I slowly and reluctantly turned away, but not as the be- 
reft and sorrowing one, who leaves behind the moldering dust 
of beloved kindred or friend. I left behind me, rapturous 
thought ! an empty tomb. I heard the soft rustle of an angel's 
wing, and a voice of unearthly sweetness whispered in my ear : 
''He is not here; he has risen;"' and I turned and looked up- 
ward and fancied, like Stephen of old, I saw heaven opened, 
and this same Jesus arrayed in the glory of Paradise, sitting at 
the right hand of God. I passed out of the church, leaving the 
heterogeneous mass of worshipers and loiterers behind me, for 
I cared but little for their pompous ceremonials. 

The afternoon was spent in attending worship with the few 
Americans in the city, at the rooms of the American Consul 
on Mount Zion. Rev. Mr. lN"ewman, of iTew York City, 
preached. Little did the minstrel monarch of Israel think, 
when he tuned his harp to the inspiration of Zion's songs, that 
when three thousand years had rolled away, strangers from a 
then far off and unknown land, would assemble over the very 
ruin$ of his entombed palace, and sing those same songs to the 
praise of David's Lord and David's Son. The twilight hour 
was spent in wandering about Zion, telling her towers, marking 
her bulwarks, and musing upon her glory departed. 

March 2bth. AYe have now an interesting week to spend in 
Jerusalem. With the Jews it is the anniversary of the Pass- 
over; with the Christians, of the betrayal and crucifixion of the 
Son of Man. It is the week in which multitudes of pilgrims 
throng the city, crowd around the Holy Places," and gather 



SIGHTS IN JEEUSALEM. 



125 



in crowds at their great central Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 
We shall have some interesting walks about Zion. Mr. Staf- 
ford, the Irish monk before spoken of, has consented to accom- 
pany us in the walk to Gethsemane, Olivet and Bethany. At 
the appointed time we passed down the Yia Dolorosa, past the 
Pasha's Palace, which is supposed to occupy the site where 
formerly stood the house of Pilate. I^ear the Temple area we 
turned a little to the right to view the ruins of an old pool, 
(plan of the city, 'No. 15,) now known as the 

POOL OF BETHESDA. 

It is also called the Sheep Pool. The Apostle John says : 
"iTow there is at Jerusalem by the sheep-market a pool, which 
is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches." 
Here, we are informed, lay a great multitude of diseased people, 
one of whom Jesus miraculously healed. This pool tradition 
now makes the scene of this interesting incident of the life of 
the Savior. There is, however, no very reliable evidence con- 
necting it with that event. It is a great reservoir, the main 
body of which is three hundred and sixty feet long, and one 
hundred and thirty- one feet broad ; another portion of it, for- 
ty-five feet broad, is continued one hundred and forty feet 
further. The walls are built of stone, and were originally 
strongly cemented. The cement is now broken ofi:' in many 
places, the walls fallen in, and portions of it filled with dirt. 
No pains have been taken to preserve it, and at the present rate 
of decay and the rapid accumulation of rubbish, it will soon be 
added to the entombed remnants of the ancient city. It was 
once a noble and costly piece of art, and was probably sup- 
plied with water from some of the subterranean aqueducts of 
the city. 

DISCOVERY OF AN ANCIENT AQUEDUCT. 

Regaining our road, we turned again to our left, to where the 
Christians are digging to lay the foundations of a new monas- 
tery. Considerable interest had just been excited by the dis- 
covery, some distance below the surface, of an ancient aqueduct, 
in a good state of preservation. It was a noble piece of work, 



126 



THE HOLY LAI^D. 



built with great care and skill. The walls were of stone, and 
arched over head high enough for a man to walk erect; along 
the bottom on one side was a cemented channel for the water, 
about eighteen inches deep and as many broad ; on the other 
was a raised pathway, along which a man could walk in a 
stooping position, without at all coming in contact with the 
water. The whole was smoothly cemented, and the cement 
appeared as hard and perfect as when first put on. It led off 
in the direction of the Temple area. Who built it ? It is as 
old, perhaps, as the days of Solomon. A current of water was 
still flowing along this subterranean channel, and I could not 
but think these might, perhaps, be a portion of the very waters 
that aided in supplying the reservoirs beneath the ancient tem- 
ple, and perhaps still connected with the ebb and flow of those 
mysterious pools we have been visiting in the valley below. 
Certain it is, no city in the world ever bad such bountiful and 
perfect water arrangements as ancient Jerusalem. In all the 
sieges to which it was subjected, when famine did its horrid 
work of death, the inhabitants seemed alwaj's to have a full 
supply of water. Even when the besiegers without the walls 
perished of thirst, there was no lack in the city. Some of 
these supplies were probably from living fountains beneath the 
city ; some of them may have been brought from abroad, but 
so adroitly concealed as to baffle ah the search of tbe enemy to 
discover them. Here, no doubt, as we have seen before, is the 
origin of many of those beautiful figures and allusions, in 
which the sustaining presence of God is represented under the 
idea of waters — of living waters, of hidden water, of drawing 
waters from the wells of salvation — of Ezekiel's wonderful 
stream, of John's vision of the river of the water of life, clear 
as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of Grod and the Lamb — 
the waters of which we sing : 

There is a stream whose gentle flow 

Supplies the city of our God 
Light, life, and love still gliding through, 

And watering our divine abode." 



INTERESING LOCALITIES. 



127 



Passing ou, we left the city by St. Stephen's Gate, 'No. 3. 
We had passed but a few rods beyond the gate when our cice- 
rone suddenly stopped us, and pointing to a little rise of ground 
close upon our left : " There " said he, " is the place where we 
suppose 

STEPHEN WAS STONED." 

It had not occurred to me that the name of the gate had any 
connection with that memorable event that sealed the fate of 
the first great Christian martyr to the faith of Jesus. As dif- 
ficult as it must be to identify the spot, my interest was awak- 
ened at the bare mention of the place. I ascended the little 
hillock, paused upon the spot, and at once imagination formed 
her tableau of the thrilling scene — the infuriated rabble ; the 
murderous blows of stone after stone; Saul holding the gar- 
ments of the persecutors, and consenting to his death ; the dy- 
ing man on the one hand praying for his murderers, on the 
other, catching visions of his glorified Savior. Is it possible, I 
said to myself, I am so near the scene of these wonderful 
events; perhaps standing upon the very ground that was 
stained by his blood ! 

From this point we made a rapid descent into the Valley of 
Jehoshaphat. A bridge some fifteen to twenty feet high is 
here built over the bed of the Kidron. Crossing this, one of 
the first objects to which our attention was called, was the 

TOMB AND CHAPEL OF THE VIRGIN. 

Here is the reputed Tomb of the Virgin Mary, and over it a 
church has been built. It is an antique looking structure, and 
time has left upon its venerable stones the deep lines of age. 
Situated in the deep, narrow valley, and imbedded in the brow 
of Olivet, the deposits of the valley and hill-sides have accumu- 
lated around it, until it has become almost a subterranean chapel. 
First we descended by a short flight of steps into a broad 
paved court. Here a spacious arched doorway stood before us. 
We found the door opened, as if inviting entrance. We made 
a long descent of sixty stone steps, and found ourselves in a 
spacious, gloomy looking chapel, mostly, if not entirely, exca- 



128 



THE HOLY LAIsD. 



vated in the rocky hill- side. On the left of these stairs is 
shown the tomb of Joseph, the husband of Mary. The chapel 
is decorated in the most gandy manner. The rndely-drawn, 
high-colored pictures of the Greeks adorn the walls, bunches 
of flowers and great clusters of ostrich eggs were hanging 
here and there, while a multitude of dazzling lamps of gold 
and silver were suspended from the ceiling. Of these lamps I 
counted more than sixty in the main room, aside from those 
that hung in the niches and recesses that opened from the 
sides. The solemnity and gloom of the place was increased by 
the light of these lamps, reflected through glass shades of va- 
rious hues. 

But where is the Tomb of the Virgin? Pass over to the 
eastern side of the grotto, into its deepest extremity; there you 
will see a little separate chapel, and in its gloomy shade an al- 
tar, the whole more profusely decorated than any other portion 
of the room. That altar stands connected with a tomb; that 
tomb, they say," is the place where the body of the mother 
of our Lord was laid! To this I could see no objection, for 
that she died and was buried any one could safely assert. But 
remembering that my Franciscan friend was one of those who 
ofler prayers to the Virgin, as actually standing by her son in 
heaven, I was puzzled to know how to understand the matter, 
and took the first opportunity to ask an explanation: '^You 
sa}' this was the place where the Virgin was buried ; in what 
sense do you understand her to be in heaven? "In body, of 
course; like our Lord, she was not left to see corruption.'' 
"But how; was it a resurrection and ascension like our Lord?" 
"jS^o, she was assumed into heaven." "Assumed! How?" 
" Her body was taken up entire, by Divine power, and received, 
without undergoing any change, into heaven." " Is there any 
evidence," said I, "of so wonderful a miracle ? " "The tradi- 
tions of the church," he replied, " and the fact that in the as- 
cent she dropped her girdle, which was seen and picked up by 
Thomas, and preserved as a memorial of the event!" I pre- 
sume he believed the strange chronicle, but as I found nothing 
of it in the Book, I remained more than skeptical. We passed 
out of the church, ascended a part way up the long flight of 



SACRED LOCALITIES. 



129 



steps, when he called us aside, drew a large iron key from his 
pocket, and applied it to the lock of a strong iron door in the 
hill-side ; it swung back upon its rusty, creaking hinges, and we 
stood within another large cavern, wholly excavated from the 
rock. This, he says, is 

THE GROTTO OP THE AGONY. 

This spot I found was exclusively the property of the Latins. 
The Franciscans keep the key, and our friend had brought it 
along on purpose that he might introduce us to this " holy 
place." It was a large, low cavern, of irregular shape, chiseled 
in the solid rock, full sixty feet across, the low, rocky yogi sup- 
ported here and there by columns of the native rock left for 
this purpose when the excavation was made. It is a singular 
looking cave, and has a low ledge of rock running around a 
large portion of the sides, as if intended for seats. Here, also, 
is an altar, lamps, candles and pictures. This altar is said to 
mark the spot to which the Savior retired, where he prayed, 
and where he endured his last agonizing struggle before he was 
betrayed into the hands of his enemies. That this spot is upon 
the borders or within the precincts of Gethsemane, seems quite 
certain ; that the Savior went into a grotto, or that it was on 
this immediate spot that he endured that agonizing struggle, 
must be a matter of mere conjecture. We emerged from the 
grotto, ascended the steps, and stood again in the open com- 
mon. Here, undoubtedly, was 

THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. 

Of all the localities about Jerusalem, aside from Calvary, 
there is none that stirs the Christian heart with such a thrill of 
emotion as Gethsemane. It is fortunate, too, that its locality 
is so plainly indicated by the scripture narrative, and by the 
nature of the ground, as to leave little doubt in the mind of the 
visitor that he has found the place. Jesus went forth with his 
disciples over the brook Kidron to a garden, where he oftimes 
resorted with his disciples. There is here, on the east of the 
Kidron, and close under the brow of Olivet, a large, open 
space of ground, reaching along up the valley to the north- 



130 



THE HOLY LAND. 



ward, still covered with grass and shaded with olive trees. 
The very nature of the ground, and its proximity to the city, 
would point it out at once as a suitable place for a park or 
public gardens. It was probably a common place of resort for 
pleasure and recreation, for meditation and worship. It was to 
some quiet, shady retreat in this spot of ground, Jesus was ac- 
customed to resort with his disciples ; here many a precious in- 
terview they enjoyed together; here the Savior came the even- 
ing before his crucifixion ; here he spent that hour of keen suf- 
fering and awful agony, when the cup of wo was presented to 
his lips, and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood fall- 
ing down to the ground. 

THE INCLOSED GARDEN. 

Just as you cross the Kidron, and commence the ascent of 
the path that leads up the Mount of Olives, you see upon your 
right a small patch of ground, covering, perhaps, near half an 
acre, inclosed with a strong stone wall, eight or ten feet high. 
It is deeply shaded by eight venerable old olive trees, and 
planted with beds of flowers, and various kinds of shrubbery. 
This beautiful and carefully guarded spot is in the keeping of 
the Franciscan monks, and is the place usually pointed out 
and described, in the books of travelers, as the ^'Garden of 
Gethsemane," and some surprise has often been expressed that 
these religious guardians should have been able to locate with 
such accuracy the precise spot of the garden. I asked my kind 
attendant for a solution of the query. He replied : " We do 
not pretend to say this is the garden any more than other por- 
tions of ground that lie in this immediate vicinity. The 
garden was here, and there, and all about this locahty. You 
see these great old olive trees. We built this wall to protect 
them; and had it not been for our care, such is the zeal of 
pilgrims to carry away some little keepsake from this hallowed 
ground, they would long ago have torn these trees to pieces, 
and not a vestige of them would now have been left." The 
explanation was certainly reasonable and satisfactory, and I 
put it on record to refute the allegation I find in some of the 
books, charging these persons with so definitely locating the 




A Street in Jerusalem. 



GAEDEN OF GETHSEMANE. 



133 



garden as to throw suspicion upon its identit}^ " How old," 
said I, ^'are these olive trees?" "They are known to be 
nearly a thousand years old," said he. " Some," he continu- 
ed, " have supposed them to be the very ones under which the 
Savior sat, but I do not think that can be. The olive, however, 
very often perpetuates itself by sending up fresh shoots 
from the roots of the old decaying tree ; in that case, the roots 
of these may be more ancient, and these trees may have sprung 
up from the very ones that sheltered Jesus and his disciples." 
It was an interesting thought, that these time-honored trees 
linked us so closely with the days of the Savior, and the 
thrilling events of the agony and betrayal. There is a small 
house in the inclosure, where one of the monks usually lodges. 
We wandered some time among the shrubbery, plucked some 
of the flowers for our specimen book, and what was still more 
acceptable, before we left the convent, one of the monks 
presented us a rosary, made from lifty of the stones or pits 
of the olives that grew upon these same old trees. We ac- 
cepted the string with many thanks, not because it was a ros- 
ary, but for its associations with the hallowed ground that had 
witnessed the agony, and been watered with the tears of the 
Savior of men. 

Although our guide had so fairly explained the reason for 
inclosiug this spot, there were other localities, with regard to 
which we could not but confess our skepticism. "Here," 
said he, as we passed a certain place, " is where the disciples 
slept while Jesus prayed." Passing another place : " There, 
where you see that little inclosure, is where Jesus taught his 
disciples how to pray." I observed, leading from the corner of 
the inclosed garden, a narrow path, much worn, and walled in 
on each side, terminating abruptly at a large rock. People 
were constantly going up the path, falling down on their knees, 
and kissing the rock. " What place is that ? " said I. " By that 
rock," he replied, "Jesus stood when Judas gave him the 
treacherous kiss." " How," said I again, " do you know these 
localities?" "We do not know," he replied; " we have only 
tradition ; these traditions have been handed down to us, and 
we receive them as the best information we have on the sub- 



134 



THE HOLY LAXD. 



]ect." The degree of faith in these traditions no doubt varies 
very much with different persons; no one is required to believe 
them. They serve, however, to remind one of the leading 
events of that gloomy night that made Jesus a captive in the 
hands of his enemies. 

THE ASCENT OF OLIVET. 

Leaving the garden, we commenced the ascent of the Mount 
of Olives. This mountain lies directly east of the city, from 
which it is separated by the deep valley of Jehoshaphat. Its 
liiglit above this valley varies from five hundred to seven hun- 
dred feet. It is a little more than one hundred feet his-her than 
Mount Zion, and near two hundred and fifty feet higher than 
the Temple area on Mount Moriah, so that it overlooks the 
whole of the city. The Arabs call it Jebel et Tar. The sum- 
mit directly east of the city is the traditional place of the 
ascension of Christ. It slopes down beautifully toward the 
valley of Jehoshaphat on the west, and again toward Bethany 
on the east. Viewed from Zion, it has a most beautiful and 
graceful outline, and is one of the most commanding objects 
about Jerusalem. This hill, once so beautifully covered with 
gardens and olive orchards, now presents the same desolate 
aspect that forms so prominent a characteristic of Jerusalem 
scenery. Of the palm trees of the valley, not a single one is 
left, and the two gigantic cedars that once stood near its sum- 
mit have disappeared. Only a few scattering olive trees are 
seen upon its sides, and an occasional fig tree takes root in its 
scanty soil. Great bowlders of variegated flint are scattered 
about in every direction, while here and there a little patch of 
ground, inclosed by a frail and tottering wall of stone, is sown 
to barley. 

There are three paths leading from Jerusalem over Olivet. 
One is a foot-path, leading directly up the mountain side ; 
another, and easier one, the common road for beasts of burden, 
leads around the southern brow of the mount ; while still 
another, but much less used, winds around the northern slope. 
As we ascended, I stopped on the way to gather some portions 
of a low, thorny bush, from which many suppose the mock 



MOUNT OF OLIVES. 



135 



crown of the Savior was made. The monks of Mar Saba 
manufacture and sell to pilgrims, crowns from a tree that bears 
a long, sharp thorn, which they believe to be the kind used on 
that occasion. 

Just below where we are ascending, and near the base of the 
mount, the place is still pointed out where, in the days of 
the temple service, the red heifer was sacrificed and burnt, from 
the ashes of which the waters of purification were prepared. 
(Xum. xix.) By one of these paths too, probably the one 
upon the right, David ascended when he was forced to fiee 
from the city under the rebellion of his son Absalom. This 
afflictive incident in the life of the renowned monarch is pa- 
thetically portrayed by the pen of inspiration. Absalom had 
managed his plans so adroitly, the court of Israel was com- 
pletely taken by surprise. The reports of the wide-spread re- 
bellion, like peal after peal of thunder, came rolling in from the 
surrounding tribes. The power and extent of the rebellion 
seems to have been greatly magnified, and the king and his 
servants made a hasty flight from Jerusalem. David and his 
associates passed over the brook Kidron, along this pathway 
they climbed the mount. " And David went up the ascent of 
Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered ; 
and he went barefoot; and all the people that were with him 
covered every man his head, and they went up weeping as 
they went." (2 Sam. xv. 30.) The result we have seen in 
another place, and within our very sight now stands the pillar 
of Absalom, and all who pass by revile his name. 

At last we gained the summit of the hill, and found upon 
the top of it a little Arab village of fifteen or twenty miserable 
hovels, a Turkish mosque, surmounted by a tall minaret, and 
at a little distance, a dilapidated Christian structure, known as 
the Church of the Ascension. From the minaret of this 
mosque we had one of those sublime and extensive views of 
the land that strikes every beholder with admiration. Here we 
stood, nearly two thousand eight hundred feet above the waters 
of the Mediterranean, and almost four thousand feet above 
those of the Dead Sea. The mountains of Jerusalem were 
clustering close around us. Gethsemane, Jehoshaphat and 



136 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Kidron seemed under our feet ; the walls and domes and mina- 
rets cf the city lay glistening in the sunlight. Far away to the 
south rose up the high, conical peak of the Frank mountain, 
encompassed hy a multitude of smaller hills, and rising amid 
them all Beth-haccerem, where Herod had his paradise, and 
where it is said his execrable bones are now interred. To the 
north and northeast was ^ehj Samuel, or Mizpeh, once the 
great rallying place of Israel, its summit now crowned with a 
Moslem mosque ; while about it clustered many other interest- 
ing localities — Gibeon, whose inhabitants beguiled Joshua into 
a league of peace ; the valley of Ajalon, where, at the command 
of Joshua, the sun and moon stood still in the heavens; 
to the right of them the white barren cliffs of Michmash, the 
rocky glens and deep, gloomy ravines of Kamah, Geba and 
Anathoth. Having feasted your eyes on these, you turn and 
look eastward. "What a scene opens to your wondering vision! 
There the hill country of Judea — the wilderness — lies before 
you in all its gloomy sterility ; a mountainous region, broken 
into bluffs and crags, whose deep and yawning chasms form a 
fit hiding place for Bedawin robbers and beasts of prey. Here 
your eye wanders to the bleak looking mountain of Qoaran- 
tania, where the Savior, fresh from his baptism, endured his 
terrible temptation, and achieved his first great moral victory. 
Beyond this, you look down into the deep vale of the Jordan, 
fresh in beauty and fertility, with its long, snaky line of blue 
waters, around which cluster a thousand interesting associa- 
tions. You follow its course along the dim distance, the width 
of the plain gradually expanding, until your eye catches a view 
of a portion of the waters of the Dead Sea, that wonderful 
monument, that entombs beneath its dark and leaden waves, 
the buried cities of the plain. Beyond all these rise up 
in dark and sullen grandeur the mysterious mountains of 
Moab, the region beyond the Jordan, on one of whose bold 
eminences the haughty Balak stood when he called Balaam : 
" Come curse me Jacob — come defy Israel." Almost instinct- 
ively you search out the highest peak, and as your eye rests 
upon it, you exclaim: There is Pisgah ! On that sublime 
hight stood Moses when he took his survey of the Promised 



MOUNT OF OLIVES. 



137 



Land I " T\"hat remarkable siglits are before us, and what won- 
derful visions of the past rise around us as we stand upon this 
lofty summit and enjoy this extensive prospect. Were there 
nothing more than this, a half hour on Ohvet would well repay 
a long and weary pilgrimage. 

But Olivet has associations and lessons of a deeper interest. 
The path up which we toiled has often been pressed by the feet 
of the Son of God ; beneath the shade of its olives and vines 
he sat and taught his listening disciples ; the garden beneath 
us was the scene of his agony. But more than this, it is the 
Mount of Ascension ! Forty days after his resurrection he led 
his disciples out as far as Bethany, and while he talked with 
them he blessed them, and a cloud received Mm up out of their 
sight. And while they stood astonished and awe struck, angels 
in white apparel stood by them : Ye men of Gahlee, why 
stand ye gazing into Heaven ? This same Jesus which is taken 
from you into Heaven shall, in like manner, return again from 
Heaven." O Olivet ! stepping-stone from which the victor- 
ious Son of God went back to glory, lifting thy majestic form 
above all the mountains around Jerusalem, it was fit thou 
shouldst be honored above them all ! From the garden at thy 
base, to the place of ascension upon thy summit, what a radi- 
ance of glory clusters about thee ! Mount of Ascension, with 
thee is associated the hope of glory ; thou givest us assurance 
of the life everlasting ! 



9 



138 



THE HOLY LAND. 



CHAPTER YI. 

Excursion to Bethany — Good Friday — Easter Sunday at 
THE Holy Sepulchre — Mount Moriah and the Temple. 

The last chapter left us upon the summit of Olivet. A sub- 
sequent excursion was extended to the opposite side of the 
mountain. The eastern slope is more irregular, and has not the 
barren and neglected look of the western. Large patches of 
the soil are cultivated, olive trees are more plenty and have a 
more vigorous and flourishing appearance. We made the ex- 
cursion on foot, for we felt it was an honored privilege to walk 
over ground every step of which has been trodden by patri- 
archs and apostles, a^^, by the blessed Savior himself! We 
continued down the direct path from the summit, narrow and 
rocky, but deeply worn, for it has known the frictiofi of human 
feet for four thousand years. E"ear the base of the mount, nest- 
ling close under the brow of the hill, deeply shaded with olive 
trees, we found Bethany. 

It now contains only about twenty houses, built of stone, all 
looking old and time-worn. The Arabs call it El-Aziriyeli, from 
El-azir, the Arabic form of Lazarus. Thus with the very name 
of the place is now associated the remembrance of the family 
whose connection with Jesus has given it its interest and im- 
mortality. As we looked down upon it, how appropriate the 
words of the poet seemed : 

" And this is Bethany! and here abode 

The favored family whom Jesus loved ; 

To whose warm, humble welcome, 't was his wont, 

Tracking the path that now I passed along, 

Oft to retire from foes and wavering friends. 



VISIT TO BETHANY 



139 



It seems a humble village ; few its homes, 
And few and poor its dwellers ; cottage roofs, 
Except one simple turret, are they all ! 
Yet, save the neighboring city, it were hard. 
If Palestine were searched, to find a spot 
On which the Christian traveler should muse 
"With fonder interest than Bethany." 

We made a descent upon the rear of the village, climbed 
over a low, tottering stone wall, and found ourselves in a little 
patch sowed to barley, and thickly shaded with venerable old 
olive trees. An amiable looking old man, with a long Turkish 
robe and a heavy turban, that certainly aided in giving him a 
very dignified aspect, came out to meet us, with an inquiring 
look, as much as to say : Franks, why trespass ye upon my 
grounds?" We met him with a friendly, "Salaam Alakoom," 
Peace he with you, and he returned the salutation. He carried 
in his hand a Mohammedan rosary of olive wood beads, on 
which he was counting his prayers, for it was Kamedan. I 
took it in my hand and said, bacomdee f (how much) at the same 
time offering him an English sixpence. He took the sixpence, 
and passed me over the beads, and I added them to my collec- 
tion of curiosities. Observing an Arab knife hanging by a 
chain from his belt, with a steel for striking fire, bodkin, etc., 
I made him another offer, and for twenty-five cents pocketed 
the entire fixture. We then motioned to him to cut each of us 
a cane from his olive trees; to this he objected for some time, 
but at last, with a backsheesh of a quarter of a dollar apiece, 
we overcame his scruples. 

Passing on through the village, another person ofiered to 
show us the house of Mary and Martha, and the Tomb of Laz- 
arus. As to the house, we could, of course, place but little re- 
liance on its genuineness, and the same may be said of the one 
shown us as the house of Simon the leper, where Mary anointed 
Jesus' feet. The tomb is a deep, dark vault, mostly excavated 
in the solid rock. A low door at the entrance, and a dilapi- 
dated, winding stairway led us down into a chamber, from 
which another door opened, and a descent of a few steps 
brought us into an inner chamber or small vault, in which the 



140 



THE HOLY LAND. 



body of Lazarus is said to have lain. Of course, the only 
evidence that sustains its identity is the uncertain tradition, 
but as one says, ^'the tomb must have been somewhere in this 
vicinity." 

Bethphage, the House of Figs," that sacred writ has so close- 
ly connected with Bethany, has perished, and its site is a mere 
matter of conjecture; but Bethany, ''the House of Dates," re- 
mains, and long will remain, the Laziriyeh of the Arab, to re- 
mind the visitor of the simple gospel narrative, and the God- 
like power of the Son of man in recalling to life the tenement 
of the tomb. Here Mary and Martha, with Lazarus their 
brother, enjoyed their quiet home. In yonder tumultuous city 
Jesus spent many weary days about his Father's business, and 
when night came down on city and mountain, with this devoted 
family he found a blessed place of refreshment and rest. Laz- 
arus was taken sick while Jesus was in Galilee. With tender 
aftection the sisters watched over him while they sent a mes- 
senger to the Master : " He whom thou lovest is sick." Hours 
and days of anxious toil and watching pass, and the afflicted 
sisters close their brother's eyes in death, wondering why Jesus 
does not come. At last his approach is announced. "What an 
illustration of simple, confiding faith is that, when Martha met 
him, and struggling to suppress the deep emotions of her grief, 
exclaimed: "Lord, if thou hadst been here my brother had 
not died." And what a lesson in the answer, confirmed by the 
subsequent Omnipotent act of the Savior : " Thy brother shall 
live again." Here were the incipient unfoldings of that great 
doctrine of life and immortality the Savior came to reveal. 

Leaving Bethany, we took the road around the southern 
braw of Olivet to return to Jerusalem. And now we were upon 
ground connected with another deeply interesting incident in 
the life of the Savior — his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. 
Here the colt was procured and the grand procession formed. 
Here they broke ofi:* branches of palm trees and spread their 
garments in the way. Over the road along which this shouting 
multitude passed we were now to walk. A short distance 
brought us upon the southwestern slope of the mount, where a 
turn in the road, as it led around the hill, brought us suddenly 



\ 



THE TKIUMPHAL PROCESSION. 143 

in full sight of J erusalem ! The whole city, as seen in the accom- 
panying cut, like a great panorama, lay before us, seemingly 
but a few rods distant. It must have been just at this point, 
and as the multitude that went before and followed after were 
crying, "Hosanna, blessed be he that cometh in the name of 
the Lord ! " that the city all at once burst upon the view of Je- 
sus, awakening the emotions, and stirring the profoundest 
depths of his sympathizing heart. He saw the city and wept 
over it. ^'0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if thou hadst known, even 
thou, in this thy day, the things that belong to thy peace, but 
now they are hid from thine eyes. The days shall come upon 
thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and 
compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and lay 
thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee ; and 
they shall not leave thee one stone upon another." The ap- 
plauding multitude had acclamations of praise for the King of 
Zion; that honored king in his meekness and humility had 
tears of compassion for the doomed city that lay in glory and 
beauty at his feet. And well did he know how fickle the hon- 
ors of that multitude w^ould prove. " To-day," he might say, 
''they lead me in honor and triumph, crying, Hosanna, and 
shouting blessings on my head ; scarce ten days will pass away 
before this same multitude will cry. Crucify him I crucify him ! " 
Jerusalem, Jerusalem! thou that killest the prophets and 
stonest them that are sent unto thee, how terribly the prophetic 
declarations of that Savior have been fulfilled! Those walls 
upon which he then looked have been demolished, and stran- 
gers come and dispute about the lines upon which their found- 
ations were laid; thy children perished within thee, and thy 
palaces were laid even with the ground ; that wonderful and 
costly temple has been utterly annihilated, and the devotees of 
a strange religion have built their shrine upon its site ! Whose 
record is this but the Handwriting of an omniscient and Om- 
nipotent God, so legible, all may read; so plain, none can mis- 
understand. 

A JEWISH PASSOVER. 

Thursday evening of this week was the anniversary of the 



144 



THE HOLY LAND. 



great Jewish Feast of tlie Passover. A German mercliant of 
the city, whose acquaintance we had made, kindly offered to 
accompany us to the residence of a Jewish family, where we 
could witness their mode of celebrating the feast. His kind of- 
fer was gladly accepted, and about 9 o'clock we made our way 
along the dark, crooked lanes of the Jewish quarter, and were 
ushered into an upper room. Here we found a family consist- 
ing of father, mother, mother's sister, four sons and a daughter, 
and with them one of the neighboring women. Their exercises 
had already commenced. They no longer kill the paschal lamb, 
all their sacrifices having ceased ; the other accompaniments of 
the feast, so far as circumstances would allow, were provided. 
A common dining-table was spread with a cloth, a plate and 
common drinking-giass for each person ; in the center of the 
table was a large, fiat, open dish, a bottle of wine, a thin cake 
of unleavened bread, and a plate of bitter herbs, which I 
thought were the stumps or bitter ends of lettuce stalks. 
Around this table the family were seated, the women with 
their bonnets and shawls on, the men with their overcoats and 
hats, all in readiness to travel in accordance with the original 
design of the institution. They were provided with Hebrew 
books, from which they read aloud, all reading at once. Occa- 
sionally the reading was interrupted, and one of the boys would 
entertain them by the recital of some incident of Jewish histo- 
ry connected with their former bondage, and God's favor to- 
wards them. 

After reading in this way for some time, the father took the 
bottle, and poured a small quantity of wine into each one's 
glass. An interval of reading followed, when at a proper time 
each took a swallow of wine, and then all simultaneously 
poured a portion into the large open dish that stood in the 
center of the table, accompanying the act with an imprecation 
that God would so pour out his indignation upon their enemies. 
Another season of reading and conversation followed, when 
the father broke the cake and passed a portion to each member 
of the household, also extending the compliment to us. We 
staid an hour or two, and then took our leave, assured by our 



A JEWISH PASSOVER. 



145 



friend the exercises of the family would be kept up in this way 
nearly or quite till daybreak. 

We were highly gratified with this opportunity of witness- 
ing the mode in which the Jews at the present day celebrate this 
feast. It is now, as it ever has been, a standing memorial of 
God's interposition for the deliverance of this ancient people. 
The very tenacity with which this people adhere to these hoary 
customs of antiquity is a striking evidence of the truth of the 
written narrative. But how changed the scene from the days 
of their former prosperity and glory. Their altar has been de- 
molished, their temple destroyed, and their sacrifices have 
ceased. They have left to them only the unsubstantial bread 
and the bitter herbs. Would to God their eyes might be 
opened, that they might see in Christ the true Passover, sacri- 
ficed alike for Jew and Gentile ! 

GOOD FRIDAY IN JERUSALEM. 

This is a great day among the Catholic population of the 
city. Many strangers have taken lodgings at our "Terra 
Santa," among them some high dignitaries of the church, and 
between fifty and sixty French military officers from Beirut. 
This week, however, is rather a severe one to the Epicurian 
portion of our boarders. Being the close of Lent, and the an- 
niversary of some of the most solemn religious events celebrated 
here, the rigidness of the fast was greatly increased. On Tues- 
day morning it was announced that no more meat would be 
served during the week. 'Not only were we deprived of meat, 
but the omnipresent olive oil, always much used here, and 
which but few in our far western country have learned to rel- 
ish, as a constant reminder I suppose of the grace of consecra- 
tion, was mingled with our soup, poured over our fish, and fried 
into our vegetables. It might have been a week of severe 
penance had we had no other resources. But not having the 
fear of the sovereign Pontifi* before our eyes, we, of course, were 
not overscrupulous if any fortune threw a good joint in our 
way. Had we been put upon the confessional, as I suppose 
some of our associates were, the damaging fact might have 
been disclosed, that we did, contrary to the laws of the church, 



146 



THE HOLY LAND. 



visit the tables of unbelievers and heretics, and then and there 
indulge in fleshy appetites unbecoming a faithful " son of the 
church." True it is, whatever might have been the opinions 
of those around us, we did not allow our liberty to be judged 
by other men's consciences. 

THE VIA DOLOROSA, OR SORROWFUL WAT. 

On Friday at dinner it was announced that at 2 o'clock a 
procession would be formed at the " House of Pilate," to trav- 
erse the "sorrowful way" over which Jesus made his painful 
journey from the place of his condemnation to the scene of his 
crucifixion. Monks, bishops and priests, officers, soldiers and 
pilgrims, were at the place at the appointed hour, and an intel- 
ligent inmate of the convent acted as guide and interpreter. 
The House of the Pasha, or present G-overnor of J erusalem, is 
supposed to occupy the site of the old Palace of Pilate, and 
here is the commencement of this " sorrowful way." 

I have been asked since my return, how far it was from 
Mount Zion, or the probable place of the institution of the 
supper, to Gethsemane. By the aid of Dr. Barclay, I am able 
to give the following table of distances : 



From Zion to Gethsemane 850 to 900 yards. 

" Getlisemane to the House of Annas 2300 to 2400 " 

" House of Annas to High Priest's Palace 1400 to 2100 " 

" H. P. Palace to Council House 200 to 400 « 

" Council House to Pretorium (in Antonia) 350 to 400 " 

« Pretorium to Herod's Palace 950 to 1000 " 

" Herod's Palace back to Pretorium 950 to 1000 « 

" Pretorium to Calvary 500 to 600 « 

7500 to 8800 « 



Thus during that fearful night of suffering and the following 
morning, the Son of God was led about, most of the time un- 
der a guard of soldiers, and suffering their indignities, from 
four to five miles. 

In the walk we are now to take, we give the traditions as 
held by the Latin church, and as explained to us as we passed 
the stations. Our attention was first called to an old, dilapi- 
ted arch spanning the narrow street, one end of which is now 



THE SOEEOWFUL WAY. 



147 



inclosed in the walls of a Latin convent opposite the Pasha's 
Palace. This is the " Ecce Homo Arch," the place, it is said, 
where Pilate brought Jesus out and set him before the multi- 
tude and said: "Behold the man." Connected with this arch, 
it is said, stood the " Scala Santa," a flight of stone stairs lead- 
ing to the Judgment Hall of Pilate, and over which our Savior 
passed as he was led to the arch. This flight of stairs, as long 
ago as the days of Constantine, were removed to Rome, and 
they are now there, covered by the bascilica of St. John Lateran, 
and such is the superstitious reverence in which they are held, 
no one is permitted to ascend them except upon his knees. 
These we afterwards saw in our visit to that city. 

In close connection with this arch is the "Church of the 
Flagellation," or " Church of the Crowning of Thorns." Here 
the devotional exercises commenced, a brief explanatory ad- 
dress was made, followed by a prayer, the whole company 
kneeling. From this we passed a short distance and again 
stopped. "Here," said our leader, "is the place where the 
cross was laid upon him;" moving a little farther, "Here he 
fell down under the cross;" stopping at another place, "Here 
he fell down again, and the cross was laid on Simon ; " at the 
next station, "Here he met his mother and said: 'Salve 
Mater.' " On we went up the gentle ascent that led to Calva- 
ry. "Here a holy woman (St. Veronica) met him, and pre- 
sented him a napkin to wipe his face, now covered with sweat 
and blood." Again, " Here he stopped to console the women 
that accompanied him;" "Here he came in sight of the cross, 
and overcome with agony in anticipation of his sufferings, again 
fell to the ground." We had now reached and entered the 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. "Here they stripped him of 
his raiment ; " and " here they nailed him to the cross ; " and 
" here," as they surrounded the altar in the chapel of the cru- 
cifixion, "here they lifted him up, and here he died!" The 
road we traversed was crooked, narrow and doleful — all its 
gloomy surroundings in unison with the solemn associations 
the events of the crucifixion were calculated to awaken. The 
principal "stations" in this "Sorrowful Way" are eight or 
ten in number, besides several minor ones. At each of the 



148 



THE HOLY LAND. 



prominent ones an explanatory address was made, and a prayer 
offered, all the company devoutly kneeling upon ttie rough 
pavement of the open street. 

"And what," I hear you ask, "was the effect upon you as 
you followed this company of worshipers, and listened to the- 
recital of their absurd chronicles? Could there be any other 
feeling than disgust at the pious frauds that had thus sought out 
and given definite locality to scenes and places, the keenest hu- 
man research could never have discovered ? " I cannot say the 
events of the afternoon had any such effect upon my mind. 
Little reverence as I had for their traditions, and little faith as 
I could exercise in their special localities, the great prominent 
events of that terrible scene of toil, trial and suffering, in the 
closing drama of the Savior's life, seemed towering up in gi- 
gantic visions about me, eclipsing by their prominence every 
minor consideration. The path from the Hall of Pilate to the 
Hill of Calvary, whether along this particular track or not, 
w^as once traveled by the suffering Son of God. As a con- 
demned culprit, he was led, bearing his cross; in weakness he 
sunk beneath it, trembling under the awful pressure of more 
than human agony. It w^as, indeed, a sorrowful loay,'^ and 
along it I walked under the deep and solemn impressions the 
remembrance of the bloody tragedy was calculated to inspire. 
I rose above all care or concern for the creations of human 
fancy, or the invention of traditional legends, and thought only 
of Him who " was delivered for our offenses, and raised again 
for our justification." 

THE jews' place OF WAJLINQ. 

- Besides traversing the " Sorrowful Way," we made a visit 
to the spot where the Israelites are accustomed to assemble to 
weep over the desolations of Zion. It is strange how, at differ- 
ent times, this persecuted race have been driven from their re- 
vered place of worship, and debarred access to the site of their 
ancient temple and altar. After the capture of the city by 
Adrian, the Jews were entirely excluded from it, and it was not 
until the days of Constantine that they were permitted to come 
near enough to behold it from the neighboring hills. Some- 



STONE OF WAILING. 



151 



time subsequent to this they were allowed to come into the city 
on the anniversary of its overthrow by Titus, to weep over the 
ruins of the Temple. From these early times the practice of 
mourning over the desolations of Zion appear to have been 
continued, but even to this day no Jew is allowed to visit the 
Temple area, to set his foot upon the hallowed spot once conse- 
crated by the altar of God. 

'NesiY the southwestern corner of the Temple area, (plan of 
the city, IsTo. 17,) in the wall of the inclosure are several courses 
of large stones, some of them eight or ten feet long, bearing 
the Jewich bevel, and though very ancient — supposed by many 
to have . been placed here by Solomon when the Temple area 
was graded — they are still in a very good state of preservation. 
These are the stones of wailing, and this is the nearest ap- 
proach the Jews can now make to their ancient place of wor- 
ship and sacrifice. Though the place is resorted to at any time 
by the more devout, Friday afternoon is the special time for 
the Jews to congregate here and weep for the departed glory 
of their city and temple. The accompanying cut gives a very 
good idea of the appearance of the wall, where often the place 
is thronged by these sorrow-stricken children of Abraham. 
We threaded our way through the narrow, crooked lanes to 
this obcure part of the city, with but a slight idea of the scene 
we were to witness. What was our surprise to find the alley 
along the wall nearly blocked up with a large collection of 
these mourning people. There were here representatives from 
different nations, with their varied and strange looking cos- 
tumes — old men with wrinkled face and white flowing beards ; 
young men in the vigor and strength of manhood; women en- 
veloped from head to feet in loose robes of snowy white ; rosy 
cheeked girls and smooth faced boys, some sitting, some stand- 
ing, some leaning their heads against the old, time-worn stones, 
earnestly reading from Hebrew books or devoutly engaged in 
prayer. Soon two or three venerable old men, as they leaned 
against the wall, seemed overpowered by their deep and appa- 
rently heart-felt emotions; their strong frames trembled, the 
great tears rolled like rain drops down their cheeks, and they 
wept aloud. The women took up the solemn wail, and even 



152 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the children seemed to catch the rising emotion as it went from 
heart to heart. I was not prepared for this spontaneous out- 
burst of grief. There was something in it so touching, earn- 
est, and apparently sincere, it aroused the sympathies of my 
own heart, and almost before I was conscious of it, I was weep- 
ing with them. There is something truly mournful and affect- 
ing in the sad condition of this people as now seen in contrast 
with their former prosperity and glory. How miraculously 
they have been preserved a distinct people ; with what unyield- 
ing tenacity they still cling to their former faith ; with what 
undying affection they turn to the home of their fathers, favor- 
ing the dust of Zion, and taking pleasure in her stones ! 

Eut however sincerely they may mourn over the ruins of 
their demolished temple, no rivers of grief can cleanse the 
sanctuary, no sacrifices of prayer rebuild its walls, for, in the 
purposes of God, it has been utterly and forever overthrown. 
It seemed to me a strange coincidence, that at the very time 
that a Christian procession was celebrating in the streets of Je- 
rusalem the honors of Jesus, rejoicing in him as their hope 
and glory, the very race that put him to death were weeping 
over their own downfall and degradation. Weep on, O op- 
pressed and afilicted people ! Thy sanctuary will never be 
rebuilt. There was a temple thy fathers destroyed, and God, 
in three days, built it up again. It is only in that temple, of 
which the one on this mount was but a type, thou canst ever 
find a rock of foundation on which to rest, an altar for thy 
sacrifices, a refuge from oppression, a solace for thy grief ! I 
turned away iii musing mood, glad that I had visited the spot. 
In those old stones, in that remnant of an ancient race, in 
their tears and lamentations, I had read a deep and solemn 
lesson — I had seen again the traces of an omniscient and over- 
ruling God, a Handwriting that none could misinterpret. 

GOOD FRIDAY EVENING. 

The day has been crowded with strange incidents, but its 
religious ceremonies are not yet at an end. We have traversed 
the "sorrowful way" from the hall of Pilate to Calvary. 
To-night the taking down from the cross and the burial is to 



POMPOUS CEREMONIES. 153 

be celebrated. At an early hour we repaired to the Church of 
the Holy Sepulchre, where we witnessed the most imposing cere- 
monies of any we had yet seen. The vast church — rotunda, 
chapels and galleries — seemed one dense mass of human beings, 
a counterpart, so far as nationality was concerned, of Peter's 
audience on the Day of Pentecost. A cross, bearing the figure 
of the Savior, had been erected in the Chapel of the Crucifix- 
ion. Hundreds of small wax tapers were distributed among 
the crowd ; the dignitaries of the church were arrayed in their 
costliest robes, the candles were lighted, and the procession, 
singing the Te Deum, surrounded the cross. A ladder was 
raised, and two persons ascending, passed a linen cloth around 
the body under the arms, to support it from above, while 
another with a hammer knocked the nails from the hands 
and feet. With great care the body was lowered and placed 
in a sheet, when, with songs, and chants, and solemn ceremo- 
nies, it was borne first to the " stone of unction," where it was 
prepared for burial by anointing with spices. Prom this it 
was borne towards the tomb, the procession moving round the 
sepulchre in the great rotunda of the church. As they pro- 
ceeded, a rest was occasionally made ; portions of the gospel, 
descriptive of scenes in the crucifixion, were read, and addresses 
to the audience made. In this way we had a short sermon 
in each of the following languages : French, Greek, Italian, 
■ German, Arabic, and what I was most surprised to hear, one 
in good, well spoken English. Of the character of the others I 
could not judge, but of this last I can say, in justice to the 
speaker, it was a plain, faithful, earnest exhortation to look to 
Jesus, and accept him as the only way of salvation. The 
ceremonies were pompous in the extreme, and continued to a 
late hour. At last the body was deposited in the place of 
sepulture, and the vast audience gradually dispersed. 

EASTER MORNING. 

The anniversary of the Eesurrection ! Wishing to witness 
the ceremonies, I went, like the women of old, early to the 
Sepulchre, I may say, while it was yet dark, for the sun had 
not attained sufficient hight to throw his golden beams through 



154 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the windows of the church. A sombre twilight reigned within, 
the effect of which was much hightened by a multitude of 
burning lamps and candles, the light of which was softened by 
shades of colored glass. 

Early as it was, I found I was anticipated by the crowd 
of worshipers, and especially by the women, a crowd of whom 
were gathered around the sepulchre, completely enveloped from 
head to feet in long, loose robes of snowy white, giving them 
a very peculiar and ghost-like appearance. Worship was 
being conducted in different languages in several parts of the 
church ; lawless multitudes were sauntering about ; the peal of 
the organ's notes, the nasal song of the Greek, and the monoto- 
nous chant of the Syrian, blended with the tramp of soldiers 
and careless talk of the rabble, made a singular jargon, calcu- 
lated to inspire any feelings but those of devotion. Several 
bishops and priests were performing ceremonies in the inner 
chamber of the sepulchre, while others were engaged without. 
I made several attempts to reach the tomb, but could not for 
the crowd. My eye was oppressed with the dazzling splendor 
of the candles and the gold and silver lamps, the pictures and 
the crucifixes ; the ear confused with the strange jargon of 
sounds. " Here," I said, " are the rituals, here the pomp, and 
ceremony, and parade, the song and the chant, but where is 
the spirit ? " I felt like Mary, when on the morning of the 
resurrection she stood by that empty tomb : " They have taken 
away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him." 

I left the church and passed down to the east side of the city, 
and out through St. Stephen's Gate, near which this first Chris- 
tian martyr is said to have been stoned, and perhaps the very 
gate through which the Savior passed on the terrible night of 
his arrest and trial. A well worn path led down a steep descent 
into the valley of Jehoshaphat ; I crossed the brook Kidron, 
and was in the Garden of Gethsemane, the place of the agony 
and the betrayal. I ascended a little the slope of Olivet by 
the same path the Savior had so often traveled, sat down under 
the shade of a venerable old olive tree, and read from my Bible 
the account of the last supper, the scene in the garden, the 
treachery of Judas, the mock trial, and the crucifixion. Alone 



VISIT TO GETHSEMANE. 



155 



in tHs retirement, in the midst of these hallowed surroundings, 
memory busied herself with the scenes of the past, and I was 
soon absorbed in the devout meditations the place was calcu- 
lated to inspire. Along this path, just to my right, the Savior 
often traveled, as he went to Bethany, to rest with the beloved 
family of Mary, Martha and Lazarus ; here he sat and wept 
over yonder devoted city. There, just at my feet, he left Peter, 
James and John, his soul exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, 
and went away alone by himself and prayed, being in an 
agony : ^' my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from 
me ; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt and there his 
sweat w^as, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the 
ground. This mount that rises np behind me, was the mount 
of his triumph, and from it he ascended to his glory. Here my 
heart burned within me, and there was kindled in my soul a 
glow of devotion that spurned all human ceremonies, and 
before which the pomp and parade of all earthly rituals were 
idle mockery. I felt that Jesus was risen indeed; I realized 
the fulfillment of his promise : " I wih not leave you comfort- 
less. I will come to you." 

A NEW A^D INTERESTING ACQUAINTANCE. 

Returning one evening with my friend Herrick from an ex- 
cursion to Bethany, as w^e came near St. Stephen's Gate, a 
stranger, knowing us by our dress to be Franks, accosted ns in 
very good English, and began questioning us with true Yankee 
familiarity. We found him to be a Christian Jew, long a resi- 
dent of Jerusalem, and now^ the keeper of a boarding-house, 
where English and American visitors often find a home. 
"While conversing with him, an Arab sheik from near the 
Jordan came along, and as this son of Abraham could talk 
Arabic with facility, we improved the opportunity, through 
him as interpreter, to make some inquiries as to the feasibility 
of visiting Mount ISTebo, east of the Jordan. The result of 
our inquiries were, that he had no jurisdiction or rights beyond 
the Jordan. He would take us to his home, near Jericho, and 
entertain us there till he could go over and bring us a Moabite 
sheik, with whom w^e could probably make a bargain to take 



156 



THE HOLY LAND. 



ns to E'ebo. The journey, he said, would take three days from 
the Jordan. Learning thus the difficulties that attended the 
route, and knowing the treacherous character of the Moahite 
Arabs, much as we desired to climb the sides of old Pisgah, 
and take a survey of the land from the place where Moses 
stood, and climb the mountain where he died, we thought it not 
prudent to make the attempt. It is very seldom that travelers 
now attempt to visit this portion of the country. 

AN OLD SAMARITAN BIBLE. 

Our new acquaintance invited us to his house, which, upon 
one side, joined the Pasha's palace. Through his acquaintance 
with the authorities of the place, we were allowed to pass the 
gates and ascend to the roof of the guard-house, which, being 
directly upon the wall of the Harem, we were permitted to look 
down into the sacred inclosure, and enjoy one of the finest 
views that could be obtained of the Mosque of Omar, and all 
its interesting sourroundings, on the old site of Solomon's 
Temple. 

Mr. Ducat — for this we found to be the name of the man 
whose acquaintance we had thus accidentally made — then took 
us to his house and introduced us to Prof. Krauss, and Dr. 
Bassillius Levishon, the first a middle aged man, by birth a 
German ; the latter, an old man, also a German, but of Jewish 
extraction. They are both eminent Hebrew scholars, and are 
sustained here at the expense of the Russian Episcopate. 
They have both become deeply interested in Samaritan litera- 
ture, and are now devoting themselves to the reprint of an 
ancient copy of the Samaritan Pentateuch. The story of this 
old copy of the Hebrew Scriptures is so singular, I am induced 
to give a synopsis of it, as I had it from the lips of the old 
Doctor himself. 

STORY OF THE OLD MANUSCRIPT. 

The small remnant of the old Samaritans have for years lived 
in such obscurity as to be almost unknown to the Christian 
world. The little literature they have, has been carefully and 
jealously guarded, and kept among themselves. Aside from 



SAMAEITAN PENTATEUCH. 



157 



the Pentateuch in Walton's Polyglot, and a few fragments of 
mutilated hymns, little or nothing has been known of their 
literature or religion. Between 1852 and 1854, with much diffi- 
culty, several volumes of Samaritan Vv^ere procured for the 
British Museum. A couple of years since, Dr. Levishon suc- 
ceeded in procuring from Damascus a large sized Samaritan 
Pentateuch, transcribed upon parchment, A. D. 1277. 

Anxious to give the scholars of the world this interesting 
relic of an almost extinct sect, the Doctor made a journey to 
Paris, procured a lithographic press, learned how to use it, re- 
turned with it to Jerusalem, and immediately commenced 
printing a fac-simile of the old parchment. He had printed 
but a few pages, when, learning that there were older copies 
of the same work among the Samaritans at ISTabulous, the old 
Shechem of Scripture, he made a visit there, in company with 
Prof. Krauss. They found the priest and leading men very 
reserved about their sacred books, and it was not until after 
an acquaintance of several days that they ventured to broach 
the real object of their mission. They at last ascertained that 
a number of the families had these old copies of their sacred 
books, which had been handed down from generation to gene- 
ration, held in sacred veneration, and kept secreted from the 
eye of Mohammedan and Christian. Among these the priest 
showed them one that had such marks of great antiquity, 
•they were extremely anxious to procure it. This anxiety, 
however, they concealed under an air of apparent indifference, 
and when about to leave, simply inquired of the family, 
through the priest, if the manuscript could be bought. The 
first answer was a total refusal to part with it. Before they 
left, a message came, through the priest, that the family would 
place the manuscript at their disposal for 14,000 piasters I 
about six hundred dollars. They made no reply, and immedi- 
ately returned home. 

Then followed a long and remarkable series of events. The 

outbreak among the Druses, resulting in the burning of so many 

villages, and the cold-blooded murder of so many Christians, 

aroused also Mohammedan intolerance against all opposing 

religions, and the little remnant of Samaritans, as well as Chris- 
10 



158 



THE HOLY LA:>TD. 



tians, trembled for their safety. That outbreak," said the old 
Doctor, earnestly, ''was the instrumentality, under God, of put- 
ting this old book into our hands." A lordly merchant Turk 
from Damascus visited ]N"abulous, and dealing Trith a Samari- 
tan trader there, accused him of robbing him of a large sum of 
money, and had him and many of his connections arrested and 
cast into prison, and there seemed no way of satisfying the 
avarice of their oppressor. At the expiration of a few months 
the priest made a visit to the Russian missionaries at J erusa- 
lem, and told the story of their wrongs. ""VThat shall we do? 
My people are in prison. I have no means to help them. x\p- 
peals to the British and American Consuls have been in vain; 
has the Eussian Consul no power with the Turkish authorities 
to interfere for us?" "How much," said Dr. Levishon, ''is 
the claim against the imprisoned parties?" "The whole sum 
now demanded, including costs, is six thousand piasters." " Can 
you not in some way raise the money ? " " We have no money ; 
my people are all poor." "Go home," said the Doctor, "and 
bring me that old copy of your scriptures, and you shall have 
the money." Three days after the claim of the persecuting 
Turk was paid, the imprisoned persons were at liberty, and the 
missionaries were rejoicing over the possession of the most an- 
cient copy of the Samaritan Pentateuch a Christian had ever 
been allowed to handle. 

THE AGE OF THIS MANUSCRIPT. 

Dr. Levishon firmly believes it to have been written before the 
destruction of the first temijle! For this he assigns the following 
reasons: 1. The extreme reserve and jealous care with which 
the family at Xab ulcus guarded it, secreting it even from fami- 
lies of their own sect; and the information derived from the 
priest through whose agency it was obtained. 2. The appear- 
ance of the manuscript, the manner in which it is written, and 
the fact that the different books. Genesis, Exodus, etc., are not 
divided into chapters, verses or sections of any kind. 3. The 
names of several priests found in marginal notes in different 
places in the volume, which names correspond with other gene- 
alogies in his possession. 4. A corner of the book has been 



AN OLD MANUSCRIPT. 



159 



scorched by fire, burning off the margin so deeply as even to 
toiicb a few of the letters, showing that the book has at some 
time been in danger of being burned. The family tradition 
connected with this is, that in ancient times the building and 
effects where the book was kept w^ere burned, and this book was 
saved in a miraculous manner. In corroboration of this, on a 
blank leaf in the book is this remarkable note : ^' This book, 
which the fire did not burn, was delivered into the hand of Cy- 
rus, King of Persia, in the presence of Zerubbabel, the priest. 
Thanks be to God for the preservation of His holy law deliv- 
ered to Moses." This marginal note has every evidence of be- 
ing genuine, written in the same character of the book, having 
all the marks of antiquity. The character in which it is written 
difiers considerably from the modern Hebrew, being the same, 
the Doctor believes, as was used before the captivity, and the same 
in which Moses wrote. Immediately upon gaining possession 
of this they abandoned their work upon the Damascus copy, 
and are now printing a fac-simile of this, which will soon be 
ready for distribution. The old Doctor is pursuing his work 
with all the enthusiasm of a boy ; and in several subsequent 
interviews with him he gave me much information that he had 
gathered from his intercourse with this ancient people ; he also 
gave me specimen pages of the work to take home with me. 
We shall have more to say of these Samaritans when we visit 
i^abulous. Should it prove true, that in the secluded Yalley of 
Ebal and Gerizim, with the little remnant of the ancient Sa- 
maritan race God has hid away, and preserved from remote an- 
tiquity, copies of his holy law, corresponding in all main par- 
ticulars to the records of the Jews, will it not be another strik- 
ing manifestation of the great leading truth we have kept in 
mind through this whole work — another instance of the Hand- 
writing of God to refute unbelief, and preserve the knowledge 
of his name and the revelation of his will ? 

MOUNT MORIAH AND THE TEMPLE. 

There was yet one other place in the Holy City I was anxious 
to visit, a place sacred to the Jew, revered by the Mussulman, 
and intimately connected with those sacred scenes dear to the 



160 THE HOLY LAND. 

Christian heart — Mount Moriah. It stands now within the 
walls of the city between Zion and Olivet, both of which rise 
considerably above it. The top of the mount has been graded 
down, and the space thus leveled, including about thirty-five 
acres of ground, is inclosed by a massive stone wall. This in- 
closed space is now called the Harem, a name applied by the 
Arabs to any sacred or prohibited inclosure, and is the ancient 
Temple area, while some portions of the wall is supposed to be 
the same that Solomon erected when the Temple was built. 

What a history that little Mount Moriah has ! "What strik- 
ing and miraculous events have here transpired I "What a place 
it fills in the long line of events reaching from the Father of the 
faithful to the Eedeemer of men ! E'ear four thousand years 
ago, Abraham came journeying from Beersheba, and with his 
son, the wood and the fire, ascended this mount, reared a rude 
altar of unhewn stone, laid that son of his affections upon 
it, and nerving his heart to the stern deed, was about to obey 
the strange mandate of heaven. There God staid his obedient 
hand, and gave him back his son as one alive from the dead ; 
and Abraham called the name of the place, Jehovah Jireh — 
THE Lord will provide ! Eight hundred years passed away, 
and still Moriah stood a monument to perpetuate the unwaver- 
ing faith of the hoary patriarch. Oman the Jebusite had 
cleared a portion of the hill for a threshing-floor, and was here 
engaged with his four sons in rural labor, when Jerusalem, for 
David's sin in numbering the people, was threatened with de- 
struction. The angel of the Lord stood by the threshing-floor, 
having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over the de- 
voted city, and Ornan and his sons fled in terror, and hid- them- 
selves. From yonder hight of Zion David saw it, and was filled 
with consternation ; he clothed himself in sackcloth, and with 
the elders of Israel, humbled himself before God. Hastening 
to the summit of the mount, he built an altar, sacrificed unto 
the Lord, and the avenging hand was staid. And David bought 
the threshing-floor from Ornan for six hundred shekels of gold. 
Here, as all know, under the prosperous reign of Solomon, the 
Temple grew into symmetry and beauty — the abode of the 
Shekinah — the center of worship to the chosen people of God. 



THE MOUNT OF GOD. 



lol 



Shall we enter this inclosure and walk over these grounds, 
once consecrated by the altar of God, the Holy of Holies, the 
Ark of the Covenant, and the Pillar of Fire? Approach the 
entrance, and you are rudely thrust back by insolent Turkish 
soldiers, perhaps insulted and even stoned by the lawless Chris- 
tian-hating Mohammedans that hang around the gates! "Why 
is this? Why cannot the Jew visit the place w^here his fathers 
worshiped, and the Christian stand upon the site of the Tem- 
ple, once a glorious type of the spiritual church of God? 

THE TEMPLE AND SACRED ROCK. 

This little inclosure has a strange history. We have already 
alluded to the early incidents under Abraham, David and Solo- 
mon. That beautiful Temple, the pride and glory of the king- 
dom, the astonishment of every visitor at the court of Solomon, 
was, after having stood over four hundred years, plundered, 
burnt, and left a heap of ruins by the Chaldeans. The long 
captivity ended, the Temple was re-built, and the changes of 
five hundred years passed over it, when Herod re-built and 
adorned it, employing eighty thousand workmen nine years, 
sparing no expense to render it equal in magnitude, splendor 
and beauty, to any thing among mankind. This gorgeous and 
costly pile, in the overthrow of the city by Titus, seventy years 
after Christ, was so completely demolished the prophecy of the 
Savior was literally fulfilled, not one stone was left upon an- 
other that was not thrown down. About half a century after, 
Adrian, out of contempt for the Jews, erected upon the spot a 
splendid temple to Jupiter. The subsequent history for many 
years it is difficult to trace; the sacred inclosure passed into 
different hands, and underwent many changes. 

In grading the top of Moriah, near the center of the present 
inclosure, a large portion of the original rock was left in its 
rough, native state. This rock is from fifty to sixty feet long, 
and from forty to fifty wide — a bold and majestic mass of stone, 
upon which no tool of iron has left its mark, the only surviving 
witness of the long series of changes and revolutions of four 
thousand years. This unhewn rock, tradition says, was Abra- 
ham's altar, upon which Isaac was laid; on it David offered 



162 



THE HOLY LAND. 



sacrifice, and this rock, it is supposed, became the altar of burnt 
offering in the temple service. From this rock Mohammedans 
say their Prophet ascended to heaven! This is the reason of 
the sacred estimation in which they hold it; and hence the 
jealous care with which it is guarded from the intruding eye 
and polluting foot of the "infidel Christian." For six hundred 
years they had it shut up and closely guarded, and no Christian 
or Jew could visit the inclosure but at the peril of his life : for 
it is said the authorities here had a firman from the Sublime 
Porte to kill any one who should presume to enter. In 1856, 
as a result of the wars among the European powers, this spirit 
of intolerance was somewhat relaxed; avarice triumphed over 
reverence, and the rigid law was so far modified that Christians 
might be allowed to visit the Harem upon the paymeiit of five 
dollars each. 

I had a strong desire to stand on Mount Moriah, and to visit 
the site of the ancient Temple of God. " Shall I," I said to 
myself, "submit to this infamous and unjust tax that bars en- 
trance to a place that ought to be common ground for Jew, 
Christian, and even Pagan, as well as Mohammedan ? For sev- 
eral days I debated the question without being able to come to 
any decision. Several times I ventured up to the gates of the 
inclosure, and as often was insolently driven back, and once 
stones were thrown at me. I inwardly anathematized the in- 
tolerance that thus obstructed the way, and felt like impreca- 
ting French and British authority and bayonets to hasten the 
work they have commenced, and are assuredly destined to ac- 
complish. While in this state of suspense, the general of the 
French army stationed at Beirut, with between fifty and sixty 
of his pfiicers, arrived at our convent to spend Passion Week 
in Jerusalem. Turkish dependence upon French authority and 
influence led to an invitation from the Governor of Jerusalem to 
the ofiicers to visit the sacred inclosure, and courtesy extended 
the invitation to other visitors at the convent. At an early 
hour of the morning we met at the ofiice of the French 
Consul, under whose sanction and guidance the formal visit 
was to be made. The gates were opened ; the Turkish guard, 



YISIT TO THE HAREM. 



165 



with Zouave dress and bristling bayonets, were passed, and we 
were in the — Harem ! 

This is inclosed by a high stone wall, the east and a part of 
the southern portion of it constituting also the wall of the city. 
The space inclosed is about thirty-five acres, adorned with 
walks and shrubbery, while a few tall cypress trees lift their 
dark forms on high, adding to the variety of the scene. 

THE MOSQUE OF OMAR 

Is the chief attraction of the place, and, next to the great 
mosques at Mecca and Medina, the most sacred spot to the Mo- 
hammedan. It stands near the center of the inclosure, upon 
an elevated platform paved with marble. The lower story, or 
main body of the building, is a regular octagon, each side of 
which is sixty-seven feet; the central and elevated portion is 
circular, and about one hundred and seventy-five feet high. 
The building is crowned by a symmetrical and costly dome, 
over which rises a lofty bronze crescent, adding much to its 
architectural finish and beauty. The dome, and upper por- 
tions of the building, are every where covered with highly- 
glazed porcelain tiles, of beautiful and gaudy colors, while the 
lower part of the octagonal sides are encased in rich marble of 
variegated colors, giving to the whole structure a polished, 
glittering appearance. The sides of the building are pierced 
by numerous windows, separated by marble columns. These 
windows are of the richest stained glass, through which floods 
of rainbow light are poured into the interior. There are four 
entrances, facing the four cardinal points, and over each a 
costly portico. 

A Turkish attendant, in military costume, acted as our guide. 
Coming to the principal entrance, we laid aside our boots and 
shoes, and with feet encased in light slippers, entered the 
sacred precincts. The interior, though very richly finished, 
was to me more gaudy than grand. A large portion of the 
wall and of the great dome appeared to be lined with the 
same kind of porcelain tiles that covered the exterior, though 
much more richly wrought, forming large gilded and mosaic 
pictures of brightest colors. Above the windows, two lines of 



166 



THE HOLY LAND. 



beautifully interlaced Arabic inscriptions, sentences from the 
Koran, run round the whole interior of the building, wrought 
in the same beautifully colored enameled tilea, forming a sort 
of religious cornice. The interior is one hundred and forty- 
eight feet in diameter. Two corridors, one thirteen feet wide, 
supported by Corinthian columns, and within this another, thirty 
feet wide the inside supported by Corinthian piers, together 
form the support of the central dome, sixty-six feet in diameter. 
Occupying the centre of this rotunda, is 

THE SAKHRAH, OR SACRED ROCK. 

This rock is about sixty feet long from north to south, and 
about fifty feet broad. It rises several feet above the marble 
floor of the mosque, and, consequently, would be some twelve or 
fifteen above the ground beneath. It is surrounded with a 
gilt iron fence, six or seven feet high, and very strongly built, 
while over it is stretched a rich awning of party-colored silk. 
For that rock this costly structure was built; for that rock this 
majestic dome spreads its ample proportions on high ! That 
rock, to the Jew, is the most sacred spot on earth, for the 
rabbins say it is the identical rock on which Jacob pillovv^ed 
his head, on which Abram offered Isaac, by the side of which 
Ornan the Jebusite had his threshing-floor, and on which 
David offered sacrifice ; the rock that afterwards became the 
altar of burnt-offering for the great Temple of Solomon I 

But what renders this stone so sacred to these Mohammed- 
ans, that for six hundred years they shut it up from the ap- 
proach of Jew or Christian ? Listen to the story of that old 
derwish, and he will tell you : When Mohammed made his 
celebrated excursion from Arabia to Jerusalem, and thence 
through the heavens, he stood on this rock, and from it bounded 
upward to the celestial spheres. Here, in the solid rock, is 
shown the print of his foot, and while the rock, starting from its 
resting place, would have followed him in his serial flight, here 
are to be seen the marks of the angel's hand as he held it down ! 
He will also further assure you, that from that time till now, 
this holy rock has remained suspended in the air, requiring no 
support but the miraculous power of God ! " True, there is a 



THE HOLY KOCK. 



167 



cave beneath the rock, with walls of heavy stone masonry, but 
he will assure you these walls do not support a single ounce 
weight of the stone, but are only placed there to hold the 
rock in case the supernatural power that sustains it should at 
any moment be withdrawn ! Such is the Moslem legend of 
the Holy Kock ; such the origin of the superstitious reverence 
with which it is regarded. 

When Lamartine visited Jerusalem, in 1832, in a familiar 
conversation with the governor of the city, " Why " said he, 
"will you not allow us to visit the Dome of the Rock?" 
"There is one place by that holy rock from which prayer is 
always answered ; should a Christian go there, he would pray 
from God the ruin of the religion of the Prophet, and the ex- 
termination of the Moslems." " God preserve me," said Lam- 
ertine, "from abusing your hospitality, and exposing you to 
danger ! If I were in the mosque El Sakhrah, I would pray, 
not for the extermination of any people, but for the enlighten- 
ment and the happiness of all the children of Allah." 

A distinguished American traveler, whose books have been 
extensively read, after having looked through the Church of 
the Holy Sepulchre, seen the jealousies and feuds of rival sects, 
witnessed the superstitious ceremonies, and listened to the 
foolish and marvellous legends, turns away in disgust, and says : 
"Were I cast here, ignorant of any religion, and were I to 
compare the lives and practices of these difierent sects as the 
means of making my choice — in short, to judge of each faith 
by the conduct of its professors — I should at once turn Mussul- 
man." Why this hasty conclusion, unfavorable to our holy re- 
ligion? He found these Christians divided into conflicting 
sects. Inquire among these Moslems, if they too are not sepa- 
rated into contending castes and factions. True, the stolid 
Turk and ignorant Arab may manifest less zeal and activity 
in religious controversy than the energies of a Christian faith 
inspire, but the same evil of discord is in his heart. He found 
among these Christians a firman from the Sultan, yet unre- 
pealed, allowing them to put to death any one of a different 
religion, who should intrude into their churches, and he tells 
us " a Jew found in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, would 



168 



THE HOLY LAXD. 



be lucky if be escaped witb bis life.'"' Did be forget tbat 
the Moslem bas tbe same firman ? and vrould it not bave 
been at tbe peril of bis own life, bad be attempted to bave 
intruded into tbe sacred Harem? Could be buy "a piece of 
tbe stone covering of tbe Saviors tomb, certified as genuine by 
a Greek patriarcb," or see at Betblebelm "tbe pit wbere tbe 
twelve thousand innocents slain by Herod were buried," and 
numerous otber absurd places and things? '\Vell, charge 
them, if you please, witb all that. Have not these Moslems 
this rock banging in the air, witb the print of Mohammed's 
foot, and tbe marks of Gabriel's fingers? Under that rock 
will they not show you a well through which the wicked de- 
scend into purgatory? Have they not here a pair of scales for 
weio^hino; the souls of men? — tbe shield of Mohammed? — tbe 
birds of Paradise ? — the pomegranates of Solomon ? — the saddle 
of El Borak, on which the Prophet made his «rial journey? 
Have they not here a well of soul-refreshing water, opening 
into Paradise ? and do they not declare that all the waters in 
the world issue from beneath this Harem? Will they not 
show you a portion of a pillar projecting from the east wall of 
the Area, on which Mohammed will sit when be comes to judge 
the world ? and do they not affirm there is a wire, invisible to 
all infidels, stretched from this mosque to yonder summit of 
Obvet, on which the souls of the faithful cross tbe valley, and 
from the mount ascend to Paradise ! And again, that Moham- 
med, in tbat wondrous journey, when be planted his feet on 
this rock, traveled witb such astonishing rapidity that he came 
from Mecca here, and went from this through the seven 
heavens, held several conversations with Moses, and yet re- 
turned in time to prevent tbe falling of a silver urn that 
Gabriel, in tbe commencement of his fiight, accidentally struck 
with his wing! 

''But these," you say, '-are idle tales; who believes them?" 
So you may say of the traditional fables of Christians; they 
originated in the darker days of ignorance and superstition, 
and the legendary stories continue to be repeated ; yet who 
but tbe ignorant and superstitious believes them? These 
things are blemishes that stain the purity and mar the beauty 



TWO KELIGIONS COMPAEED. 



169 



of any system of faith, but neither this religion or that is re- 
sponsible for them ; they spring directly from the root of igno- 
rant and depraved human nature. They may appear worse in 
Christians, because there we expect better things ; there they 
are deeper shades in contrast with stronger lights. 

And what superior purity of character, acts of devotion, 
deeds of charity and benevolence, or spirit of enterprise and 
improvement, did our traveler find in these followers of the 
Prophet ? In morals I should not hesitate to challenge a com- 
parison, believing that even Jerusalem Christians, with all 
their errors and disadvantages, will still bear the palm ; while 
in deeds of charity, of benevolence, in attention to the poor, 
in hospitals and care for the sick, in schools, enterprise, and 
public improvements, they are far, far in advance of their indo- 
lent Moslem neighbors. I have alluded to these things to show 
that Christianity, even here, in the midst of all its corruptions, 
will not suffer in comparison with the best forms of a false re- 
ligion. After seeing the two religions side by side in the Holy 
City, after tracing their influence, as seen in these eastern 
countries, could I look no farther, and were I left to choose, t 
should still say, give me Christianity, even with its blemishes of 
heresy, its burden of ceremonies, its drapery of superstitions 
and traditions — in view of all these things I would still prefer 
the priest to the derwish ; put the bands, crozier, and mitre be- 
fore the turban, elevate the cross above the crescen t ! 

But how our thoughts are wandering from this wonderful 
rock, by the side of which we stand ! The truth is, this famous 
rock, so far from being suspended in mid air, is a part of the 
solid mountain itself. In grading down the top of the hill, to 
make the broad and beautiful area that now constitutes its sum- 
mit, this portion of the native rock was left unhewn, and un- 
polished, for what reason it is difficult now to tell. About it 
Ornan might have had his threshing-floor; on it Abraham, 
David and Solomon may have offered sacrifices ; it seems more 
than probable. What changes and revolutions that old rock 
has witnessed ! There it has stood through all the mutations of 
this holy mount ; Pagan, Jewish and Christian rites have been 
performed upon it; and now, honored and protected by that 



170 



THE HOLY LAND. 



costly and graceful dome, the muezzin's call summons the fol- 
lowers of the Prophet to worship about it. It did not fall from 
the heavens, as the Moslems affirm, but was formed here by 
the hand of Creative Power. Here it has stood, and here it 
will stand, a part of the solid foundations of the globe itself, 
needing no angel's hand to hold it down, or special divine 
agency to hold it up I 

OTHER SIGHTS IN THE TEMPLE AREA. 

Leaving the Mosque of Omar and the Sacred Rock, we were 
next taken to the Mosque El Aska, standing near the south- 
western corner of the inclosure. It is supposed to be the same 
building erected in the sixth century by Justinian for a Chris- 
tian church, and dedicated by him to the Virgin Mary. It 
escaped destruction when Jerusalem was sacked by the Per- 
sians, under Caliph Omar, A. D. 636. It has been altered and 
remodeled through successive architectural eras, tih it now 
presents a curious specimen of the comjoosite order. It is a 
monster building, two hundred and eighty feet long, one hun- 
dred and eighty-three broad, and the dome, though smaller, is 
nearly as high as the Dome of the Rock. Between El Aska 
and the outer wall is another mosque, one hundred feet in 
length and seventy in breadth, used chiefly for educational 
purposes. A short distance from this is a mosque of the West- 
ern African negroes, called Miigrabin, a single hall, one hun- 
dred and seventy feet long, and twenty-five wide. Besides 
these, there are numerous smaller structures, mosques, colon- 
ades, porticoes, fountains and praying, places. One of these 
structures is called the Mosque of Jesus; another the Dome of 
Solomon, said to mark the place where Solomon stood to pray 
at the dedication of the Temple. 

In the east wall of the Harem (ITo. 16) is the Golden Gate. 
The massive columns that support the arch project far into 
the interior of the grounds, and the whole forms a majestic 
and imposing piece of architecture. When and by whom this 
gate was built, and whether it corresponds with one of the 
ancient temple gates, it is now impossible to tell. It has also 
been walled up from time immemorial, the destruction of the 



THE TEMPLE AEE A. 



171 



terraces on the east of Moriah, formiDg a descent into the 
valley of Jehoshaphat, rendering a gate in that part of the 
area useless. Tradition affirms it to be the gate through which 
the Son of God made his triumphant entry into the city, and 
also the one through which the Emperor Heraclius entered, 
bearing in triumph the cross he had recovered from the Per- 
sians. Among the antique and wonderful things of the 
Temple area, are the old substructions, and 

UNDERGROUND WELLS AND RESERVOIRS. 

The existence of these was known and spoken of by Jose- 
phus, but in the subsequent change of masters to which the 
place was subjected, some of them were almost entirely lost 
sight of. The hostility of the present occupants for a long 
time prevented explorations, and it is only recently that any 
accurate knowledge of them has been obtained. Since the 
opening of the Harem to Frank visitors, Dr. Barclay has been 
permitted to make explorations and measurements, the results 
of which he has embodied in his elaborate work. It appears 
that in leveling the area, the southwest corner of the grounds 
was so much lower than other portions, it was found easier to 
build vaults and arches than to fill the depressions with solid 
work. Thus there are now found underground long colon- 
ades and arches, rooms and recesses. In other places, vaults 
have been formed by excavating the solid rock of the hill. 
These underground works. Dr. Barclay thinks, are of the 
highest antiquity, as they possess the peculiar features of Jew- 
ish architecture. Probably portions of them were built by 
Solomon himself, and have been often traversed by that Eoyal 
Monarch of Israel and his successors. There are many pas- 
sages here hundreds of feet long, entirely under ground, sup- 
ported by columns, and covered with arches. Some suppose 
that much of the costly furniture and treasures of the ancient 
temple yet lie concealed in some of these subterranean vaults. 
What became of the sacred ark, with its mercy seat and cheru- 
bims of solid gold, has long been a mystery ; and many of those 
old Jews, who weep by yonder wall, will tell you they believe 



172 



THE HOLY LAITD. 



it lies concealed in some hidden recess beneath the Temple area, 
and in the fullness of time it will be restored to Israel. 

"We have before alluded to the Mohammedan notion that all 
the waters in the world issue from beneath the Sacred Rock 
of Mt. Moriah ! and have also mentioned the fact that ancient 
Jerusalem, with its immense population, in all its protracted 
sieges, seems never to have suffered for a supply of water. 
There seems to be much of mystery about these supplies of 
water for the Holy City, both in ancient and modern times. 
Dr. Barclay, in alluding to this, says that Siloam is the only 
perennial fountain in the vicinity of the city, and that there 
is but one well of living water in the limits of the city, and one 
in the immediate vicinity without! Still, there is always a 
fair supply of water. There are many reservoirs where rain 
water is treasured "up, many deep wells with water, but they 
seem to be dependent on the rains and cess-pools for the waters 
they aftbrd. In making these subterranean explorations in the 
Harem, upon removing in one place a half-buried marble capi- 
tal, the Doctor observed a rude subterranean passage, leading 
to a flight of steps. Torches were at once procured and a 
descent made. A broad flight of forty-four steps, cut in the 
solid rock, brought them to an immense cavern, containing a 
beautiful sheet of water ! He spent considerable time in ex- 
ploring and making an accurate sketch of this wonderful 
underground lake, the knowledge of which appears to have 
been almost entirely lost to the Franks, and of which even the 
Turks of the Harem seemed to know but little. It is seven 
hundred and thirty-six feet in circumference, and forty feet 
deep ! though when he explored it he found only about two 
feet of water covering the bottom. This, he says, is no doubt 
the "sea" of which the son of Sirach and the commissioner of 
King Ptolmey speak in such rapturous terms. Though the 
Doctor says he discovered no fountain in connection with it, 
still such fountain may exist ; he was also told by one of the 
old keepers who had before visited the place, that the aque- 
duct from Solomon's Pool leads into this reservoir. There is 
also another large reservoir under the Mosque El Aska, which 
probably has a connection with this. "When opportunity occurs 



WONDEKFUL RESEKVOIR. 



173 



for a thorough exploration of these wonderful chambers, we 
shall probably be able to account for the mysterious flow of 
the waters of Siloam, of which we have before given an account, 
and perhaps may be able to understand how the ancient city 
was so remarkably supplied, and how the notion has arisen 
among Jews, Christians and Mohammedans, of the miraculous 
streams that flow from the throne, altar, and oracle of God. 

On emerging from the Mosque El Aska, a servant returned 
us our boots and shoes, and we spent an hour strolling about 
the grounds. We climbed upon the wall near the southeast 
corner of the inclosure, and looked down into the Yalley of Je- 
hoshaphat. The wall here is built up from the side of the hill, 
so as to enlarge the Temple area by filling in from the inside ; 
thus the exterior of the wall is between seventy and eighty feet 
high. Upon some pinnacle of the Temple crowning this high 
vrall, I imagined it was, where the tempter set the Savior, when 
he said : " If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down.'' A fall 
from the pinnacle of the Temple to the foundation of the build- 
ing might have been fearful, but a fall down this giddy hight 
to the valley below, would have been certain destruction. 

What strange reflections came crowding upon me as I slowly 
walked across the great inclosure to the exit gate. It was no 
slight privilege to stand upon ground that had been conse- 
crated by the feet of angels, and hallowed by a series of sacrifi- 
ces, reaching from Melchisedek to Jesus. Here stood the Tem- 
ple of the living God; here Abraham, David and Solomon had 
w^orshiped. Here stood the altar of sacrifice, streaming with 
the daily oblation of blood; here the golden altar from which 
the morning and the evening incense ascended to heaven. Here 
v/ere the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant, the Cheru- 
bim ; here the Shekinah found a resting place, and here the 
Holiest of all in the person of Jesus came and worshiped and 
taught. But this mount, over which I now walk, has not only 
been consecrated by all these hallowed scenes ; alas ! it has been 
polluted by unsanctified ofterings and stained by the bloodiest 
of human massacre ! Here Pagans came to demolish the Tem- 
ple of God, and rear up their idolatrous altars. Here Jews, 
Christians and Moslems have contended for the mastery. What 



174 



THE HOLY LAND. 



pen can portray that terrible scene, when the inmates of this 
great city, besieged and driven by Titus, fled to their sanc- 
tuary, and took refuge within these walls as their last strong- 
hold; when fire and sword finished the work ghastly famine 
had commenced, and heaps on heaps of the gory slain were 
piled about the courts of their burning Temple ! "What still 
more fearful scenes of carnage were witnessed, when, in subse- 
quent times, the Crusaders came to expel the Moslem hordes 
that had here intrenched themselves — when Tancred led his 
host, thirsting for vengeance, to this sacred inclosure, and this 
ground was given up to the most barbarous excesses — when 
more than ten thousand of the followers of the Prophet were 
massacred in this very inclosure, and this beautiful area was 
ankle deep in blood ! What a revolution followed, when, in 
less than one hundred j^ears after, Saladin came and expelled 
the Christians, again set up the standard of Islam, pulled down 
the golden cross from its lofty eminence, trailed it upon the 
ground, and again hung the crescent high in the air! Were 
not all these things in the mind of the Savior, when, from yon- 
der side of Olivet, he saw the coming fate of the city and Tem- 
ple, and wept in view of the approaching calamities? 

Moriah, what changes thou hast witnessed ! How glorious 
have been thy consecrations; how terrible thy baptisms of 
blood! How thou hast been enshrined in the hopes and affec- 
tions of the devout through a long succession of generations ! 
Christian and Moslem revere thee, and the Jew comes to weep 
over thy ruins. Mount of Jehovah Jireh, thou hast fulfilled 
thy mission ! Shorn of thy beauty and glory, here thou stand- 
est, another of the monumental piles of the past, thy very name 
a historic record, and this great rock-hewn terrace one of 
God's imperishable tablets, on which he has written with his 
own hand lessons of warning and instruction none can misun- 
derstand ! 



A WALK IN THE COUNTKY. 



175 



CHAPTER VII. 

Foot Excursions about Jerusalem — Home of Old Samuel — 
Excursion to Bethlehem and Hebron. 

We have seen the prominent places of interest in the Holy 
City and its immediate vicinity ; let us now extend our excur- 
sions to the neighboring towns, and see what we can find use- 
ful and instructive. Horses can be hired for these excursions 
for thirty piasters, or about one dollar and a quarter a day, and 
guides for one and a half to two dollars. I had a dread of 
guides and dragomen, and as for horses, it was much more 
pleasant to wander at one's leisure across the fields, down into 
the glens and up the mountain sides, where beasts of burden 
could not go. 

About 9 o'clock A. M., several of us passed out of the Da- 
mascus Gate, and wandered off into the country north of the 
city. We took no guides, intending to find our way as best we 
could. Our first point of destination was l^eby Samuel, the 
supposed Mizpeh of scripture. This we could easily see about 
five miles distant, its summit crowned with an old, dilapidated 
mosque. We started off' in the direction, passing by the tombs 
of the Judges, but leaving their examination for a subsequent 
visit. Occasionally we could trace the remains of the old Ro- 
man road that ran in this direction, the heavy stone pavement 
being still visible. We clambered up rocky hills and down 
into rocky ravines, over stony pathways almost impassable. 
At last we reached the base, and then, by a circuitous path, 
climbed the rocky sides of ITeby (Prophet) Samuel. It rises 
abruptly between five hundred and six hundred feet above the 
little plain of Gibeon. Its sides have been terraced, and were 

once cultivated to the very top. In some places the vine is still 
11 



176 



THE HOLT LAND. 



seen, and the fig tree grows, but over most of the hill the ter- 
races have fallen into decay, and the rains have washed away 
the soil, leaving nothing visible but an ugly mass of barren 
rocks. And such is the case with the whole section of country. 
This hill, as one has justly remarked, ''is the culminating 
point of the whole mountain region round the Holy City." IsTo 
other peak in Southern Palestine gives one so extensive a view 
of the country as this. This is supposed to be 

THE ANCIENT MIZPEH. 

The name signifies "a place of look-out." According to an 
early tradition, it is the Ramathaim-Zaphim, the birth-place, 
residence, and burial-place of the Prophet Samuel. It was 
here at this conspicuous hill that Israel was assembled together, 
when they made a solemn vow never to return to their homes 
until they had punished the inhabitants of Gibea for the 
shocking crime committed in that city. Here the old Prophet 
of the Lord called them together, on another occasion, to pun- 
ish their enemies, the Philistines, on which occasion they gained 
a decisive victory over them, and " Samuel took a stone, and 
set it between Mizpeh and Shem, and called the name of it 
Ebenezer, saying, ' Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.' " Here 
Israel assembled to elect their king. The choice fell upon Saul, 
and from the multitudes of Israel there went up, for the first 
time, the shout, " God save the King! " The Crusaders erected 
on this commanding eminence a convent and a church, the re- 
mains of which are still visible. Some of the foundations are 
hewn deeply in the solid rock. During the Babylonian cap- 
tivity, the Chaldean Governor resided here, and at this place 
he was assassinated by the Jews. Here, too, it is said, Pichard 
the III, having advanced his camp from Ajalon, stood and 
looked upon Jerusalem, and buried his face in his armor and 
exclaimed : " Ah, Lord God ! I pray that I may never see the 
Holy City, if I may not rescue it from the hands of thine 
enemies." 

The great antiquity of the place, the number of interesting 
events connected with it, the extensive view of the surrounding 
country that here opened upon us, made it to us one of the 



HOME OF SAMUEL. 



177 



most interesting localities among all our visits abont J ernsalem. 
A few miserable houses, not more than twelve or fifteen in 
number, now clustered around the old ruined mosque, consti- 
tute the whole of the present village. The few villagers gath- 
ered around us, anxious to accommodate us in any way they 
could, that they might claim a backsheesh. At the door of one 
of the hovels a girl was churning. The milk was tied up in a 
goat-skin sack, and suspended from the limb of a fig tree ; to 
this she had attached a string and was moving it with sudden 
jerks backward and forward — a simple and novel method of 
performing this common operation. One of my friends feeling 
thirsty, asked for leb-an (milk). A dirty looking woman 
brought a bowl of buttermilk, richly ornamented with streaks 
of dirt. My friend looked at it, shook his head, and hesitated ; 
at last, mustering resolution, he blowed away, as best he could, 
the dirty scum, and took a drink, and then offered the bowl to 
me, but I iDas not thirsty. "We had amongst us but a very few 
words of Arabic, and could hold but little communication with 
the natives. Among the children who gathered aroand us, 
was a girl thirteen or fourteen years old, with a head-dress or- 
namented with silver coins. It was of the same pattern as is 
usually worn by the girls here, but so much more of a fancy 
article than the most I had seen, I had a strong desire to take 
it home with me as a curiosity. I bantered with the father as 
best I could by signs and the few Arabic words I could com- 
mand, and at last concluded a bargain at one dollar and a half. 
The roguish-looking girl watched the progress of the bargain 
until her father called upon her to surrender the crown of her 
costume, when she made a sudden retreat to the rear of the mud 
cottages, and no persuasions could induce her to give it up. I 
found the girls set a high estimate upon this article of dress, 
and it is very difficult to purchase one. I made several at- 
tempts, and at last succeeded in getting one at Bethlehem, for 
which I paid as high as six dollars, but it was richly orna- 
mented with a heavy border of coins. 

Having finished our visit at ITeby Samuel, distributed a few 
piasters among the children, and given a backsheesh to the 
sheik for the privilege of ascending the minaret of their old 



178 



THE HOLY LAND. 



mosque, we took our departure. On the side of the hill below 
the town we sat down under the shade of an old olive tree and 
took our lunch. We passed down the hill and across the val- 
ley about one mile, nearly due north, and then ascending again 
an isolated hill, and we were in 

EL-JIB, OR GIBEON. 

Around this there lies one of the most beautiful and fertile 
plains of central Palestine, and this place, like the one we have 
just left, is noted for the many historic and scriptural events 
that have transpired here. It is spoken of in the old Testa- 
ment as a great city, one of the royal cities." Here lived the 
people, who, when the Israelites invaded the land, gathered their 
old tattered garments, and worn-out shoes, and packed their 
sacks with musty bread, and came with their hungry, jaded 
animals, and beguiled Joshua and the leaders of Israel into a 
treaty of peace. It was certainly a very clever trick, and we 
must give the former inhabitants of Gibeon credit for great 
shrewdness. 

This town, like others all over Palestine, has gone to decay ; 
yet as one stands in the midst of the few dilapidated buildings, 
and calls to mind the events that have transpired here, visions 
of its former greatness rise upon the imagination. On that 
little plain that meets your eye as you look down from the hill, 
the five kings of the Amorites assembled together to punish 
Gibeon. Turn to the east and look towards Gilgal. There 
Joshua and his host were encamped. One night's march, and 
they come with the morning sun pouring over that rocky em- 
inence, and the Amorites are discomfited. The day is not 
long enough for Israel to continue the conquest, and Joshua 
gives that ever memorable command, " Sun, stand thou still upon 
Gibeon, and thou moon in the Yalley of Ajalon." And the 
sun stood still, and the moon stayed until the people avenged 
themselves upon their enemies. 

As we came to the foot of the hill, we wished to see the 
Pool of Gibeon," but did not know where to find it. Just 
then a young Gibeonite met us, with a hoe upon his shoulder, 
going to his work in the field. All we could say was, Moiya 



VISIT TO GIBEO^T. 



179 



(water). He seemed immediately to comprehend our meaning, 
and led us to the east side of the hill and about half-way up to 
the town, where we came upon the remarkable spring or pool. 
There is first a natural cavity or grotto in the rock. Then an 
inner chamber has been excavated by art, w^hich is entered by 
a low, narrow opening down several stone steps. Here a copi- 
ous fountain of water gushes from the apparently solid rock. 
We stopped and refreshed ourselves at this fountain. A little 
below it on the hill-side are the ruins of a large reservoir, 
once probably used to retain the waters brought into it from 
the fountain above. It was here by this pool that that remark- 
able meeting took place between 

ABNER AND JOAB. 

They came at the head of their respective armies of Israel 
and Judah. Twelve men of Judah were challenged to fight 
with twelve men of Israel. The termination of the bloody 
tragedy all Bible readers remember. The whole twenty-four 
were slain : "For they caught every one his fellow by the head, 
and thrust his sword in his fellow's side, so that they fell down 
together." And on that plain just at our feet the subsequent 
battle took place. Abner was defeated and the swift footed 
Asahel slain. At this city, also, David's nephew, Amasa, was 
treacherously slain by his cousin Joab. Here, too, on Gibeon, 
Solomon ofiered up his thousand burnt offerings, and here the 
Lord appeared to him in a dream, and gave him the desire of 
his heart, ''wisdom and understanding." 

"We went up into the village, sad remnant of glory departed, 
and mingled a little while with the inhabitants. The sheik, a 
large, venerable looking old man, treated us with great kind- 
ness. He pointed to his hut or house and said, "m^ee," but 
we excused ourselves, for we had no relish for any thing com- 
ing from these dirty hovels. He took us into a large room, 
with rush mats upon the floor, and signified that we could stay 
all night and sleep there. But this kind offer we again de- 
clined. When the children in their eager curiosity gathered 
too close around us, he scolded them away ; and when we had 



180 



THE HOLY LAND. 



finished our visit and given him a backsheesh, he pressed our 
hands and kissed them, and even shed tears at our departure. 

It was between 3 and 4 o'clock, and we had now near six 
miles of rough and hilly road between us and J erusalem, and 
must reach the gates before sunset. We bade farewell to 
Gibeon, and as we turned away we could not but reflect upon 
the many striking illustrations of scripture we meet at almost 
every step in this ancient land. As we entered the village, one 
of the first things we met was a woman at work with a large, 
round stone, grinding to powder a hard crystaline substance, 
for what purpose I could not ascertain ; and as we took our de- 
parture down the hill we met others, some staggering under 
heavy burdens of wood, others of water borne upon the head, 
forcibly reminding one of the penalties imposed upon them in 
the days of Joshua, when they made them hewers of wood and 
drawers of water. A weary walk, and our excursion was ended. 
Just as the setting sun was bathing with his golden light the 
western hills, we entered Damascus Gate, and were soon enjoy- 
ing with keen appetites the hospitable fare of our Franciscan 
friends. 

FOOT EXCURSIONS CONTINUED. 

We had other places of interest to visit, lying northeast of 
the city, and again we started for another day's ramble among 
the rocky hills and passes of Judah and Benjamin. Leaving 
the city by St. Stephen's Gate and crossing the Yalley of Jehosh- 
aphat, we ascended the Scopus ridge. It was on this hill that 
Titus had his camp, and from this side of the city he com- 
menced that memorable siege that involved the city in such 
terrible ruin. Here we lingered for some time, enjoying one of 
those splendid views of the surrounding country that excite the 
admiration of every traveler. Conspicuous among the objects 
that attracted attention was Jerusalem itself, with its multi- 
tude of synagogues, mosques and churches ; its minarets, domes 
and towers. Just as we were gazing upon it the sun from be- 
hind a cloud poured over it a flood of golden light, while all 
around lay in the deep, dark shadow. "Is this," we said, 
"emblematic?" Jerusalem, on thee God once shed his radi- 



VISIT TO ANATHOTH. 



181 



ance, and from thee went forth light for the iUiimination of the 
world ! 

Our road was now among the hills and rocky passes of Ben- 
jamin. About one hour from the city brought us to some 
deep, dark looking ravines. Flocks of black goats, attended 
by Bedawins, were cropping the scanty herbage upon the rocky 
acclivities, while occasionally a low, black tent showed the rest- 
ing-place of a family of these strange wanderers of the desert. 
A half hour farther brought us to Anathoth, now called Anata. 
Three thousand years ago, this town was set off to the Levites. 
But it possesses an interest greater than this. It was the birth- 
place of the prophet Jeremiah. Here the word of the Lord 
first came to him, and here was his home till he was driven 
away by persecution. It is about three miles in a direct line 
from Jerusalem. It still shows some remnant of its former 
greatness. The foundations of some of the houses were of great 
hewn stone, of ancient workmanship; the remains of an an- 
cient wall can still be seen. There are old and spacious cisterns 
hewn in the rocks, and fragments of old columns lie here and 
there. The village is now a miserable place of about twenty 
small houses. The fields are poorly tilled, and but a few scat- 
tered fig and olive trees are seen. The miserable, lazy-looking 
men of the place gathered around us, and stared at us, evident- 
ly unaccustomed to the visits of Franks. We made a short 
stay and passed on, and to our great surprise not a single one 
of them asked for a backsheesh. 

Here we were in the immediate vicinity of Alemeth, one of 
the cities given to the Levites as a part of their inheritance 
in the land. It was on the top of a hill, and is now nothing 
but a heap of ruins. Hizmeh is a small modern village near 
by, also situated upon the top of a high hill. The attention of 
the traveler will here be arrested by the strange appearance of 
the country; every thing is of a dull, grayish white. The 
stones, the soil, the houses, and even the very shrubs, seem to 
have the same general appearance, giving an extremely bar- 
ren and monotonous aspect to the landscape. A few olive and 
fig trees are seen, and a few cultivated patches of soil ; the nar- 
row valleys looked green and fertile, but rocky hill-sides seemed 



182 



THE HOLY LAND. 



too sterile to repay cultivation. We now made a descent into 
a deep, rocky ravine, climbed the shelving banks of the oppo- 
site side, then down and up the steep acclivities of another, 
when we found ourselves in 

JEBA, THE ANCIENT GEBA OF BENJAMIN. 

"We were now in a wild region, not only of country, but of 
inhabitants. Many consider it unsafe for Franks, as all Euro- 
peans are here called, to venture into these towns without a 
guard. We were only three in number. Two of our company 
had buckled on their revolvers before starting, more, however, 
for show than with any expectation of using them. !N"otwith- 
standing the surly appearance of the inhabitants, we betrayed 
no signs of fear, but walked boldly into the village, and were 
almost immediately surrounded by a throng of saucy children, 
and from j&fteen to twenty desperate looking men. 

In the village stands an old tower, a remnant of the former 
buildings of the place, which we wished to ascend to get a 
better view of the surrounding country. One of the men stood 
at the door and demanded a backsheesh. We oflFered a piece 
of money and he nodded assent. We gave him the money, 
when he refused to let us go unless we would pay more. 
We would not submit to any imposition of this kind, and, as 
he would neither pay us back our money nor let us go up, we 
expressed our strong disapprobation and turned away. We 
took a hasty survey of the place, and not liking the appear- 
ance of the men around us, passed on ; they hooted and hal- 
looed after us in a very uncivil way, but we payed no attention 
to it. We passed on a little out of the town to the side of the 
hill that commanded a view of the scene we wished to con- 
tempi-ate. We were now upon the ground over which Sennach- 
erib marched his army when he advanced upon Jerusalem. 
Isaiah had foretold this advance of the Assyrian upon Jerusa- 
lem, and describes it with all the accuracy of a historic record. 
He speaks of this Assyrian host as the rod of God's anger, and 
the staff of his indignation : " I will send him against a hypo- 
critical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give 
him a charge to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to 



PKOPHECY OF ISAIAH. 



183 



tread them down like the mire of the streets." (Is. x.) The 
army advanced upon the great northern road towards Jerusa- 
lem ; when near Bethel they made a turn eastward over the 
ground we were now visiting. Standing in the midst of these 
old cities, most of them now in ruins, how vividly and accurately 
the movements of the invading army were portrayed ? " He is 
come to Ai, he is passed to Migron ; at Michmash he hath laid 
up his carriages. They have gone over the passage; they 
have taken up their lodging at Geba ; Eamah is afraid. Gibeah 
of Saul is fled. Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim ; 
cause it to be heard unto Laish, poor Anathoth." Here, too, 
we were in the immediate vicinity of that wonderful exploit of 

JONATHAN AND HIS ARMOR-BEARER. 

As we sat upon the hill a little below the village of Geba, tlie 
scene of this interesting event was all before us, and we took 
out our Bibles to read again the narrative. The Philistines had 
suddenly risen up against the Israelites, and with an immense 
army had encamped at Michmash; as we looked out to the 
northward we could see the place, and the very ground over 
which this vast horde of the enemies of the Hebrews spread 
themselves. Sanl had no time to gather an army, and was here 
in Geba with only six hundred men, but God had determined 
to save Israel from this sudden uprising of their enemies. 
Jonathan devised a bold and novel plan of attack. Only a 
narrow ravine separated the two armies. That narrow ravine 
was just before us; down into its dark depths we could look, 
and the bold rocky acclivities of the opposite side were visible. 
Accompanied only by his armor-bearer, the bold-hearted son of 
Saul descends into the valley and climbs up yonder northern 
rocky precipice on his hands and feet. Where Bozez and 
Seneh, the two sharp rocks, one on the one side, and one on the 
other were, cannot now be exactly determined, but one of them 
was on the north side, over against Michmash, the other one on 
the south side, over against Geba, and over them Jonathan 
made his way. As if springing up from the earth, the two 
bold men suddenly made their appearance in the Philistine's 
camp, and commenced the work of slaughter. A rampart of 



184 



THE HOLY LAND. 



slaughtered Philistines was soon heaped about them, and there 
was trembling in the host, and in the field, and among all the 
people of the garrison. The occurrence of an earthquake in- 
creased the tumult, and the panic-stricken host of the uncir- 
cumcised not only fell upon each other, but fled in the wildest 
consternation. From the vicinity where we were sitting, Saul 
and his company saw the confusion, and gathering as many as 
could be hastil}^ brought together, pursued the discomfited 
host. Thousands were slain, and the rest driven westward 
through the mountains to Ajalon. It was one of those signal 
interpositions of God for the preservation of his people that 
fills their history with remarkable events 

As we sat reading and talking over these interesting things, 
an old sheik, from the village we had just left, made his ap- 
pearance and sat down near us. We paid no attention to him, 
but read on till we were through. On leaving, he followed us, 
when we discovered that he had his old broad sword buckled 
on beneath his blanket, which he was making an evident efiTort 
to conceal. "What his design or wish was, we could not tell, as 
we could not converse with him ; but we did not like his ap- 
pearance, for he had a savage and malicious look, and we motion- 
ed him back. He persisted in following us near half a mile, but 
we kept our eye upon him, and allowed him to get no advan- 
tage over us. At last, finding he could make nothing out of 
us, he left us. These villagers were the most uncivil of any we 
had met with, and though we assumed a bold and careless air 
while with them, we were glad to leave them behind. We now 
passed on between one and two miles nearly west to 

RAM AH OF BENJAMIN. 

It is located, as all the other ancient villages of Judea were, 
upon a hill. It is now but a small village, but there are ancient 
ruins here indicating something of its former importance. We 
took a hasty view of the place. It is beautifully situated, sur- 
rounded by a green and fertile valley. 'The villagers appeared 
to be a much kinder hearted people than those we had just left. 
They gathered around us and were importunate in their 
demands for backsheesh; but as we had no favors to ask, we 



EUINS OF OLD CITIES. 



185 



declined making donations. We passed on down the opposite 
side of the hill, and a few rods from the village, came npon a 
well dug in the rock. A couple of girls had come out to draw 
water, and one of them, like Kebekah of old, let down her 
pitcher and gave us drink, for which we gave her a backsheesh 
in return. 

In passing to Ramah, we left Ai upon our right, but did not 
go to it, as nothing but a heap of ruins marks the place. These 
ruins are scattered along the narrow, rocky summit of a ridge 
for near half a mile. It was here, or near here, Abraham had 
his second encampment after arriving in Canaan. It was the 
second city taken by Joshua in his conquest of the land. From 
Jericho he marched up boldly into these strong mountain 
holds, and this city was taken by stratagem and doomed to 
destruction, but was afterwards rebuilt. "We now turned our 
steps homeward, for we had about five miles to walk. IsTear 
Jerusalem we turned a little aside from our direct road to visit 
the site of 

GIBEAH OF SAUL, 

mw called Tuleil el Ful, "The Hill of the Beans." This is 
the theater of several interesting historical events. It is a 
round-topped hill, about three miles north of Jerusalem, com- 
manding a fine view of the surrounding country. It has for- 
merly been terraced, at great expense, the rocks having been 
cut aw^ay for that purpose. The stones upon the sides still lie 
in great heaps and long ridges, indicating the former walls and 
roads. On the top is a large conical heap of ruins. This is 
all that is now left of Gibeah, the city that gave the Israelites 
their first king. Here was the home of Saul, and the seat of 
his government during a great part of his reign. 

On this hill the Amorites of Gibeon hanged the seven de- 
scendants of Saul in revenge for the massacre of their breth- 
ren. Here occurred that bloody tragedy of the destruction 
of the concubine, which was so terribly revenged by the other 
tribes, and which resulted in the almost total annihilation of 
the tribe of Benjamin, as recorded in Judges 20th and 21st 
chapters. Here, also, was the scene of one of the most touch- 



186 



THE HOLY LAND. 



ing instances of maternal tenderness on record. Rizpah, the 
mother of two of the descendants of Saul that were hung here 
and left to rot upon the gallows, bemoaned her loss, and " took 
sackcloth and spread it for her upon the rock from the begin- 
ning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, 
and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest upon them by 
day, nor the beasts of the field by night." It must," says one, 
have been a mournful spectacle, to see this bereaved mother, 
sitting by the wasting skeletons of her sons, through the long 
days of a whole Assyrian summer, from the beginning of 
harvest in April, till the first rains in autumn." 

As we sat upon the heap of ruins that crowns the site of this 
ancient city and read the record of these events, the sun was 
fast sinking behind the western hills. Our day's work was 
done ; we hastened into the city, and spent the evening in re- 
flecting upon the events of the day, and making notes of the 
interesting localities we had visited. 

EXCURSION TO BETHLEHEM AND HEBRON. 

April Sth. Bethlehem is between five and six miles south of 
Jerusalem ; Hebron about fifteen miles south of Bethlehem. 
The usual mode of visiting Hebron from Jerusalem, is to hire 
horses and a dragoman, and take along tents and provisions. 
Several of us had now become so much accustomed to foot 
excursions," we were bold enough to plan a visit to Hebron 
without horses, dragoman or tent. Our company consisted 
of my two traveling companions who came with me from 
Egypt ; a young man from the city of l^ew York, whom we 
met in Jerusalem ; an English clergyman ; the Irish Franciscan 
monk, of whom we have before spoken, from "our convent;" 
and an Irish Catholic priest from the Emerald Isle, here on a 
visit to the " holy places." Thus we had quite a diversity in 
nation ahty, religion and tongues ; for though there were but 
seven of us, we represented three nations and five different re- 
ligious denominations. Our monk could talk Arabic, two of 
our number spoke German and French, two Italian, all of us 
English, and seven being a perfect number, we had no fears of 
a failure in our enterprise. 



A WALK TO BETHLEHEM. 



187 



. We left Jerusalem about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, intend- 
ing to spend the first night in Bethlehem. We passed out of 
the Jaffa Gate, crossed the valley of Hinnom, near the ruins of 
one of the old aqueducts of Solomon, and along the base of 
the Hill of Evil Counsel. On this side of the city can be seen 
what industry and enterprise can do in restoring the fertility of 
these rocky hills. English and American skill and capital have 
been expended in the erection of buildings and the cultivation 
of the soil. In one place, a long row of neat stone tenements 
have been put up by a wealthy Jew, all now occupied by 
Israelites engaged in the cultivation of the soil; the ruined 
terraces upon some of the hill-sides have been restored, the 
vine, fig, and olive trees again planted. The result shows that 
these barren hills can be made fruitful, and from these little 
cultivated spots one can understand something of what the 
country once was when all these hill-sides were clothed with a 
luxuriant growth of vegetation. 

PLAIN OF REPHAIM — -WELL OE THE MAGI. 

About a mile from the city, we passed along the Plain of 
Eephaim, or, as it is also called, the Valley of the Giants. 
Here it was that the Philistines came up and spread themselves, 
making a demonstration against Jerusalem, when they heard 
that David had been crowned King of Israel ; and here David 
• smote them with great slaughter, so that they fied and left 
their images, and David and his men burned them. I^ot satis- 
fied with this defeat, they came a second time, and David, by 
the direction fo the Lord, fetched a compass behind them, and 
"came upon them over against the mulberry trees." "And 
let it be," said the Lord, " when thou hearest the sound of a 
going in the tops of the mulberry trees, thou shalt bestir thy- 
self, for then shall the Lord go out before thee to smite the 
host of the Philistines." It is a beautiful green plain, termi- 
nating in the southwest in what is now called the " Yalley of 
Roses." About two miles from the city we came upon a large, 
deep well, directly in the middle of the road, called the " Well 
of the MagV 

It is walled around the top with great hewn stones, and pre- 



188 



THE HOLY LAND. 



served with care, not only from its utility in affording water to 
the traveler, but from a traditional story connected with it. 
The wise men, the tradition says, left Herod to seek for Jesus. 
They wandered on in uncertainty, till they came to this well. 
Looking down into it, and attempting to draw water, the won- 
derful star was mirrored forth from its deep waters. Whatever 
importance we may attach to the tradition, there can be but 
little doubt that this company of men, seeking the new-born 
king, traveled along this very road. 

We now ascended a sloping hill for about half a mile further. 
On the top of this hill, and just about half way from Jerusa- 
lem to Bethlehem, stands the new Greek Convent of St. Elias, 
or Elijah. It is a huge, but neat looking stone building, sur- 
rounded by a high wall. The reason assigned for its erection 
here, is a tradition that on this spot the prophet, worn out with 
fatigue, lay down to rest when he fled from the persecuting 
Jezebel. These Greek Christians are doing much for the im- 
provement of the lands in the vicinity of their convent, and 
have also just completed a fine improvement in the road lead- 
ing to Bethlehem. The road from Jerusalem, thus far, is one 
of the best I have seen in Palestine. Most of the way a car- 
riage might be driven over it. As we neared Bethlehem, we 
turned aside a few rods to the right of the main road to visit 

THE TOMB OF RACHAEL. 

It consists first of a small, white, square building, surmount- 
ed by a dome. This was designed, and has been used for a 
Moslem mosque, but is now in a sadly neglected state. From 
this an iron door, which we found locked, opens into an oblong 
monument, built of brick, stuccoed, and neatly whitewashed. 
Though this building is modern, the identity of the spot is 
well established. Here I recalled the simple, brief, yet touch- 
ing biblical narrative of her death: "They journeyed from 
Bethel, and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath. 
^ ^ ^ :^ ^ j^T^^ Rachael died and was buried on the way 
to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem." And Jacob, we are informed, 
set up a pillar upon her grave, which Moses speaks of as stand- 
ing in his day. That this is the place, none, I believe, dispute. 



AN ANCIENT TOMB. 



189 



Here, then, I was gazing upon the very spot where the dust of 
this memorable woman had mingled with its original du»t — 
the wife whom Jacob so much loved — the woman for whom he 
spent so many years of servitude — the mother of Joseph, 
whose virtues alone would have given her an exalted name. 
What changes have here taken place ! What revolutions have 
swept over this land ! "What contentions of nations for the 
mastery ! But amidst them all, three thousand years have not 
effaced the knowledge of this place, and Jew, Christian, and 
Mohammedan alike revere the memory of her who sleeps 
beneath this monument. The following notice, from the jour- 
nal of another traveler, is here so much in point, I take the 
liberty of copying it : " The Turks are anxious that their bones 
may rest near hers, and hence their bodies have been strewn 
under tombs all around the simple grave of Eachael. The 
sweet, domestic virtues of the good wife have won their love 
and admiration, as the tomb of Absalom, near the brook of 
Xedron, has their detestation — upon the latter they throw a 
stone, to mark their horror of the disobedient son, while round 
the former they wish when they die their bodies may be interred, 
i^^or is this wonderful. The wife, worth fourteen years 
service as a shepherd, must have been worth having. The 
whole life of Eachael is, indeed, one of the most touching in 
biblical history. The sweet shepherdess has left her mark upon 
the memory of man as well as her tomb. The tribute to her is 
the tribute to a good wife ; and infidel, and Jew, and Christian, 
all combine to pay it. The great women of the earth — the Ze- 
nobias and Cleopatras — iave died, been buried, and their very 
places of burial have been forgotten ; but to this day stands 
over the grave of Eachael, not the pillar that Jacob set up, but a 
modern monument in its place, around which pilgrims from 
every land under the sun gather, in respect and reverence for 
the faithful wife and good mother of Israel." 

BETHLEHEM — THE "HOUSE OP BREAD." 

A walk of about fifteen minutes from the tomb of Eachael 
brought us to Bethlehem. The natives now call it Beit Lahm, 
" House of FleshJ' It is indeed the place that has given to 



190 



THE HOLY LAND. 



mankind the living bread and the flesh that sustain the life of 
the, world. Little it was, and little it still is among the thous- 
ands of J udah, but out of it came Him who is ruler of the 
world. It was with no ordinary feelings I climbed the rugged 
.road that leads up to the birth-place of Jesus. The city is 
situated upon a hill, the gray stone houses rising tier above 
tier, presenting quite a substantial and formidable appearance, 
while the great stone buildings of the convent and Church of 
the I^ativity, with the massive, fort-like walls that inclose them, 
form the most conspicuous object in the place, looking like 
some of the old fortifications of feudal times. It was formerly 
a walled town, but the walls, no longer considered essential, 
have been allowed to fall into decay. There are about three 
thousand inhabitants, nearly all of them Christians. The 
streets are narrow and dirty, and like all others of Palestine, 
full of fleas. Many of the inhabitants live by the cultivation 
of the soil ; the vine and olive are extensively cultivated, and 
the country around has a more flourishing and fruitful appear- 
ance than the hills about Jerusalem. A great amount of busi- 
ness is carried on in the manufacture of olive wood, bone and 
shell, into beads, cameos, crosses, crucifixes, and various other 
articles. The women of Bethlehem are proverbially beautiful, 
having in their features much of the European stamp, while 
the whole population appear to be industrious and well dis- 
posed. 

CONVENT AND CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY. 

Our home at Bethlehem was to be in the convent, and our 
Jerusalem monk had the sesame, in obedience to which its pon- 
derous doors were readily opened. We received a welcome 
reception, were assigned our rooms for the night, and provided 
with a wholesome, but plain repast of bread, meat, eggs and 
coflee. This place is aii immense pile of stone buildings, of 
great antiquity. There are three convents included within the 
walls — Latin, Greek and Armenian — the inmates each retain- 
ing their respective forms of worship, and all having access by 
different passages to the "holy places." The chief object of 
attraction is the " Church of the ITativity." This is said to be 




Bethlehem. 



LODG^G IN TOMBS. 



193 



built over the grotto or cave that formed the stable in which 
the Savior made his advent into the world. 

I have often been asked, since my visit to this place : " Is it 
at all probable the Savior would or could have made his ap- 
pearance in the world in the manner, and in such a place as the 
scripture narrative represents ? " I see no improbability in it at 
all. Indeed, it would not be strange for a child to be born, even 
now, in similar circumstances. The rocky hill-sides about Je- 
rusalem, Bethlehem, and other cities of this land, are full of 
artificial grottoes cut in the rocks ; some of these were origin- 
ally tombs, some were probably excavated for other purposes. 
It is no uncommon thing at the present time to see these used 
as herding places for animals, and quantities of provender are 
frequently stored in them. In walled cities, as at Jerusalem, 
the gates, at night, are shut, and the belated traveler is some- 
times compelled to take refuge for the night in these deserted 
tombs or grottoes, and if he can find one with a bed of straw, 
so much the better. It is easy to conceive how, under circum- 
stances like these, and more especially among people of such 
habits as we find here, the necessities of a mother might drive 
her for shelter to a stable. It was a similar case to this that 
happened eighteen hundred years ago. A decree of the reign- 
ing monarch had called a multitude together at Bethlehem. 
The mother was not debarred from the city because the gates 
were shut, but from the multitude of people " there was no room 
in the inn.'' Where then could she find shelter but in one of 
these same grottoes or stables? So far from there being any 
thing improbable in the narrative, it is precisely such an event 
as might, in such a combination of circumstances, happen at the 
present day. 

But was this grotto beneath the Church of the ITativity the 
one ? That, of course, I cannot tell. As early as A. D. 327, 
Helena built a splendid edifice over this cave; by what evidence 
she settled the question of the locality of the place it would be 
impossible now to tell. Certain it is, it was regarded as the 
place then, and has continued to be so regarded since. The 
church now standing here is said to be the same as built by 
Helena more than fifteen hundred years ago, though, doubtless, 



194 



THE HOLY LAND. 



it has undergone many changes. It is about one hundred and 
twenty feet long, one hundred and ten feet broad, and is the 
oldest specimen of Christian architecture in the world. The 
roof is of wood ; the naked beams and rough frame-work sup- 
porting it is left on the inside uncovered, giving it a very unfin- 
ished appearance. This roof is supported by forty- eight Cor- 
inthian columns, arranged in four rows of twelve columns each. 
These columns are each of one single piece of stone, two and a 
half feet in diameter, and more than twenty feet high, and are 
supposed to have been taken from some more ancient buildings 
some think from the porches of the Temple at Jerusalem. This 
great church is now seldom used for worship, and seems to be 
only a vestibule or thoroughfare to the smaller churches and 
apartments of the convent, and especially to the Grotto of the 
E'ativity. 

With one of the Latin monks for our guide, we passed the 
gloomy portals of this old church, thinking of Helena, Con- 
stantine, and of the strange events of the past, until we came 
to the dark, narrow passage leading down into the Grotto of 
the ^fativity. The monk handed each of us a lighted taper, 
and led the way down a narrow stairway cut in the solid rock. 
What was once a simple grotto or cave in the hill-side, has been 
so fenced in and covered over by this great church, and trans- 
formed by the hand of art, a visit to it is now like a descent 
into a cellar. I cannot detain the reader by describing all I saw 
in these subterranean apartments, nor the manner in which the 
various rooms are arranged with the altars, pictures, lamps and 
numerous costly decorations. "We were shown the altar and 
tomb of St. Eusebius ; the altars and tombs of Saints Paula and 
her. daughter; the tomb of St. Jerome, and what was of more 
interest to me, his study. This is in a vault or chamber near 
twenty feet square and about nine feet high. It is cut in the 
rock, and has been transformed by the monks into a chapel. 
On one side of the room a handsome altar has been erected, 
and over it is placed a picture of the Saint, representing him in 
the attitude of writing, while a large lion lies resting at his feet. 
Here, then, I was really in the room where this devoted man 
passed so many years of his life; these walls echoed the voice 



GEOTTO OF THE NATIVITY. 



195 



of his prayer and witnessed his austerities. Here it was," 
says one historian, " that he fancied that he heard the peals of 
that awful trump, which shall one day summon all mankind to 
judgment, incessantly ringing in his ears. Here it was that 
with a stone he struck his body, bowed by the weight of years 
and austerities, and with loud cries besought the mercy of the 
Lord. Here, too, it was that he produced those laborious works 
that have justly earned him the title of the Father of the 
Church." 

In another apartment, now also turned into a chapel, is an 
altar said to mark the spot where the innocents slain by Herod 
were buried. Passing on through one or two more apartments, 
a door was reverently opened, and we entered a room nearly 
forty feet long and eleven feet wide. This was the sanctum 
sanctorum of the whole building. At one end of this room 
was an altar; beneath it, raised a little above the floor, a marble 
slab ; on the center of the slab a large silver star, fifteen to 
eighteen inches in circumference ; around this star, engraved in 
Latin: "Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary." 
Around this star and over this altar are suspended sixteen sil- 
ver lamps, kept continually burning. The chapel is richly em- 
bellished with gold and silver ornaments and pictures. The 
monk who guided us approached the place, reverently fell upon 
his knees and kissed the revered spot, as is their custom always 
when they approach it. This then was the spot that has made 
this a place of pilgrimage for many centuries. For this spot 
this massive convent and costly church, and these numerous 
chapels, have been erected. I looked upon the place, and 
around the room, and in imagination tried to divest it of its ap- 
pendages and adornments, and see only a simple cavern in the 
rocks, such as even now can be seen around Bethlehem and Je- 
rusalem, and into which the herdsman still drives his cattle to 
shelter and feed them. I recalled the simple scripture narra- 
tive, how Joseph and Mary, in their extremity, were driven into 
one of these places, and " she brought forth her first born son 
and laid him in a manger, because there ivas no room for them in 
the inn J' I thought of Him wbo took not upon himself the na- 
ture of angels, but the seed of Abraham ; who, though he was 



196 



THE HOLY LAND. 



rich, became poor, that we through his poverty might be made 
rich. What a stoop was that from the throne of the universe 
to the manger of Bethlehem ! Why was he not born in the 
imperial palace, in princely state, and to regal honors ? He came 
to teach us humility, self-abasement and self-denial, and it be- 
hooved him to be made in all things like unto those whom he 
was to elevate from the defilements and degradation of sin. 

DAVID'S WELL — VIEW OF THE COUNTRY. 

After visiting the Cave of the ITativity, we had time to wan- 
der about the place. The "Milk Grotto," just upon the sub- 
urbs of the city, is one of those places that has obtained celeb- 
rity, and which every one visits, without any faith in the foolish 
legend that has given it its name. It is a little cave excavated 
in the soft rock, upon one side of which the crumbling lime- 
stone has a peculiar white, milky appearance, giving rise to the 
absurd story that here the Virgin nursed her child, and the 
milk was spilt upon the side of the grotto — hence its name. 

A few rods' walk in another direction brought us to " David's 
Well." This is a large, deep cistern, hewn in the sohd rock, 
with several openings in the top. The event that has given it 
its celebrity is recorded in 1st Chron. ii. The Philistines had 
taken possession of Bethlehem, and David was sheltered in the 
cave of Adullam. And David said : " O that one would give 
me to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem that is at 
the gate." And three of his men broke through the host of 
the Philistines, and drew water from the well and brought it to 
David. But David would not drink it, for it was like drinking 
the blood of the men whose lives had been put in jeopardy to 
procure it ; and he poured it out to the Lord. 

What an interesting day we have had in our ramble from 
Jerusalem here, and in visiting these renowned localities ! 'Now 
as the day is declining, come with me to the top of the convent, 
and from its fiat roof let us take a survey of the surrounding 
country, and call to mind some of the memorable events that 
have here transpired, and that have made this little place so 
prominent in the religious history of the world. First, we may 
call to mind the interesting history of Ruth, the Moabitess, the 



PLAINS OF BETHLEHEM. 



197 



great grandmother of David, who came here with her mother-' 
in-law from bej^ond the Jordan. Upon some one of these very 
fields upon which we are now looking, she went out to glean 
barley, the narrative of which is so beautifully and artlessly re- 
corded in the word of God, and which resulted in her marriage 
with the kinsman of her deceased husband. 

But what was of deeper interest, here was the home of the 
shepherd boy that afterwards became Israel's king. Over these 
hills and through these valleys David led his fiocks, before any 
visions of his future greatness had dawned upon his imagina- 
tion or inflamed his ambition. It was here to the house of his 
father Jesse, Samuel came, his steps directed by the Almighty, 
to anoint with his horn of oil the lad who was afterwards to 
act so prominent a part in the history of the nation ; whose 
sword was terrible to his enemies, and whose devout and holy 
meditations still continue to awaken the devotions of the pious 
heart. But what was of more interest, here on these very 
fields, at a later period, other shepherds watched their flocks, 
and here was announced the advent of another and a greater 
king, and from the angelic choir the song of peace and good 
will first fell upon the ear of man. 

Bethlehem is still little among the thousands of Judah, but 
it has a history that will never be efiaced. Men and nations 
have passed away ; the glory of Israel has departed, and the 
hand of desolation has been laid upon this once fertile land; 
but here stand the hills, there lie the valleys, and these are the 
rocks and the fields that were kindled by the glory of the pres- 
ence of God, and gave back the triumphant echoes of that 
heavenly song, " Glory to God in the highest ; and on earth 
peace and good will to men." And yet how variable are hu- 
man events. How closely allied are light and darkness, joy and 
sorrow. How these mothers of Bethlehem were made to sit 
in sackcloth, and these same rocks and hills echoed with the 
wail of thousands of bereft ones, when Herod, jealous of the 
security of his throne, " sent forth and slew all the children in 
Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old 
and under." Then was there a voice heard in Ramah, lamen- 
tation, weeping and great mourning. Eachael weeping for her 



193 



THE HOLY LAND. 



children, and would not be comforted because they were not. 
But while we have been contemplating these interesting events, 
the dim twilight has crept over the landscape, and we are called 
to seek rest for the night. To-morrow we shall pursue our in- 
teresting journey to Hebron. 

POOLS OP SOLOMON. 

A night's rest in the convent, a beautiful April morning — 
and April here is like our June — a hospitable breakfast fur- 
nished by the monks, all conspired to invigorate our spirits, and 
at the early hour of 6 o'clock we left Bethlehem, and continued 
our journey towards Hebron. "We passed part way down the 
hill on which Bethlehem stands, and then commenced a slight 
detour from the main road to visit the celebrated reservoirs 
known as the Pools of Solomon. 

Our course lay along the aqueduct leading from these pools, 
or reservoirs they might more properly be called, to Jerusalem, 
the grading for which along the hill- sides forms a comfortable 
horse and foot path. This old aqueduct, between Bethlehem 
and the pools, is in a good state of preservation, and in many 
places has been recently repaired. It is built of stone, the pas- 
sage for the w^ater about eighteen inches broad, and twelve to 
fifteen inches deep, and lined with a strong coat of water-proof 
cement. In the early days of the construction of these water 
works, the modern method of carrying water over hills and 
through valleys in pipes was not understood, or they had not 
the art of making pipes of sufficient strength to resist the pres- 
sure of the water; so this aqueduct is carried the whole distance 
upon a level, or nearly so, following the windings and sinuosi- 
ties of the hill-sides hke a canal. Through this ancient chan- 
nel the water was still flowing fresh and clear, as in the days of 
the great monarch of Israel. Occasionally a hole was broken 
through the top of the passage, that the thirsty traveler might 
refresh himself from the inviting stream. We had occasion 
several times to try the quality of the water, and found it ex- 
cellent. 

Although the pools are less than one hour's ride from Beth- 
lehem, we indulged ourselves in loitering along the way, stop- 



A KEMAKKABLE FOUNTAIN. 



199 



ping occasionally to rest, or to gather flowers, multitudes of 
which, of bright and varied colors, strewed our way, so that we 
did not reach the place until about half-past 8 o'clock. Upon 
entering a ravine between two high and rocky hills, these great 
works of antiquity were suddenly revealed to our view. 

They have so often been described in the letters of travelers, 
it seems unnecessary to detain the reader by any minute de- 
scription of them. They are partly excavated in the solid rock, 
and partly built up of hewn stone. Many of these stones are 
of great size, and bear the marks of great antiquity. There 
are three of these tanks, ranged along the ascent of the valley, 
one above and beyond the other, so constructed that the bot- 
tom of one lies as high or higher than the top of the one next 
below it. Thus, when the lower one is exhausted, the second 
can be emptied into it, and then the third through the second. 
The size of these reservoirs is as follows : 

Length. Average breadth. Depth. 
Upper Pool 380 feet, 232J feet, 25 feet. 

Middle Pool...... 423 feet, 232^ feet, 39 feet. 

Lower Pool 582 feet, 177^ feet, 50 feet. 

The supply of water is abundant, as well as excellent — a large 
stream of waste water flowing down the valley from the Lower 
Pool after the aqueduct is supplied. The great curiosity con- 
nected with these pools is the fountain from which they are 
filled — a place generally overlooked by visitors. Dr. Barclaj^, 
author of " The City of the Great King," whom we met in Je- 
rusalem, had spoken to us of this place, and told us how to find 
it, and advised us by all means to see it. Having examined 
the pools, we proceeded in a northwestern direction some forty 
rods, to an open field covered with barley. Here we found a 
small opening in the ground like the mouth of a well, nearly 
choked up by dirt and rubbish. It was a forbidding looking 
place, both from the dirt and smallness of the aperture. My 
companions examined it as well as they could from the top of the 
opening, and decided they would not attempt to enter. I told 
them I had come to see all that could be seen, and I was going 
down if it was possible. So it was arranged I should first enter 
the well, and if I found any thing worth seeing, I should call 



200 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the rest. The descent was perpendicular for a little more than 
the length of one's body, and then turned in an angle of about 
forty-five degrees. There was scarcely room to crowd the body 
through, and I was soon involved in darkness. I slipped along 
a muddy inclined plane ten to fifteen feet, until I could stand 
partly erect. Then I drew from my pocket matches and a can- 
dle, and struck a light. Fifteen or twenty feet below me I saw 
an open chamber, and heard the gush of running waters. I 
clambered down over rocks and dirt until I saw the place was 
worth a visit, and then returned and called to my companions, 
and one after another they crept through the passage into the 
opening below. Three or four candles were now lighted, and 
we were enabled to look about us and examine the wonderful 
place. We stood in a vaulted chamber upwards of forty feet 
long and near twenty-five broad, the sides and roof protected 
by stone masonry. Upon one side of this there was an opening 
into another smaller apartment, walled in the same manner. 
This is the fountain head from whence the large reservoirs and 
aqueduct are supplied. The water springs up in copious 
streams from four different places, and is brought by smaller 
passages into a large basin, from whence it fiows off in a broad 
subterraneous passage. This passage is walled and arched, and 
large enough for three men to walk abreast. We did not care 
to follow it, but were told it was carried to the northwest corner 
of the Upper Pool ; there it branched into two, a portion of the 
stream flowing into a vault twenty-four by five feet, and from 
thence into the Upper Pool. Another carried a portion of the 
water along the hill-side by the pools, and was so arranged as 
to carry a part into the second and third pools, and the re- 
mainder directly to the great aqueduct below the pools, from 
whence it was carried by a winding course to Jerusalem. The 
wisdom of this arrangement, for the production of an unfailing 
supply, is at once apparent. In the time of freshet, when the 
fountain yielded more than was needed, the surplus passed into, 
and was preserved in the pools. In the time of drouth, when 
the supply from the fountain was inadequate, it was augmented 
from the pools. The entrance to this underground fountain 
was, no doubt, guarded with great care, and from this Solomon 



THE SEALED FOUNTAIN. 



201 



13 supposed to have drawn the beautiful comparison used in his 
song : " A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse ; a spring 
shut up, a fountain sealed ; " and hence this place among the 
monks has the name of the "sealed fountain." 




POOLS OF SOLOMON. 



The annexed diagram, which we have prepared for the pur- 
pose, will give a better idea of the pools and the underground 
passages by which the water is conveyed to them, than any 
mere verbal description. The left hand denotes the upper por- 
tion and place of the well, and the white lines the underground 
passages by which the water is conveyed along and to the res- 
ervoirs. These great reservoirs are now called El Burak, and 
that they were built by Solomon, no one, I believe, questions. 
If they are the work of that great monarch, for near three 
thousand years they have been receiving and pouring out their 
inexhaustible supply of waters. They are not only ingeniously 
constructed, but are built upon a scale of magnificence that 
would be creditable to the art and enterprise of modern days. 
From this place the Holy City and Temple were supplied with 
water. The termination of the loug aqueduct, it is said, may 
still be seen in the area of the Harem upon Mount Moriah, 
where now stands the Mosque of Omar, but where once stood, 
in grandeur and glory, the magnificent Temple of God. 

WALK TO HEBRON CONTINUED. 

Having finished our visit to Solomon's Pools, we started o£P 
in the direction of Hebron, having now about fifteen miles to 
walk over a rocky road, and under the full rays of the sun, as 
they fell upon us from a cloudless sky. About four miles south 
of the pools, we came upon a broad cultivated valley, where 
the natives were diligently at work in the cultivation of the 



202 



THE HOLY LAXD. 



soil. They were mostly dressed iii Tiirkisli costume, with loose 
robes gathered at the bottom, and turbans upon their heads. 
Most of them had broad swords or cutlasses dangling at their 
sides, and their old flint-lock guns near at hand. Their imple- 
ments of husbandry were of the rudest kind. Their plows, the 
same as used two thousand years ago — a crooked stick, with a 
pointed iron upon the end, that only scratched the ground two 
or three inches deep ; their yokes, a strait stick tied to the 
oxen's horns. Their draft animals were most varied and fan- 
tastic. In one place we counted nine teams plowing in one 
held. One man had a tall, lean camel harnessed to his plow ; 
another an ox, another a cow, and a fourth a little donkey, not 
much larger than a sheep, yoked to a very small heifer, and so 
on, in most amusing and everchanging variety. 

From the imperfect manner of their tillage, their crops, of 
course, are very light. The top of the soil is worn out by long 
cultivation, and no renovating measures are employed to in- 
crease its fertihty. As we approached Hebron, we fotiud the 
country more fertile, and in a better state of cultivation than 
any other portion we had yet seen. The valleys were broader, 
the hill-sides more sloping, and sometimes covered with brush- 
wood. Upon many of the steeper acclivities the old terraces 
were still kept up, and vineyards, and the olive and the fig yet 
flourished. In these vineyards could be seen the stone towers 
and the wine vats, just as in the days of the Savior. It was 
not the time for gathering fruit, so we were not permitted to 
hear the joyous shouts of the vintage. Occasionally a large 
flock of goats, sometimes intermingled with sheep, could be 
seen upon, the hill-sides, generally attended by young persons 
or .children. 

I noticed, as we passed along, two or three limekilns. One 
at first wonders how, in this country so destitute of timber, and 
even of shrubs, they can contrive to get up stiflicient heat to 
make lime. It is done by gathering various kinds of woody 
herbage that grow upon the hill- sides and along the valleys, 
and leaving them exposed to the hot sun till they are thorough- 
ly dried. Their ovens are still heated with the same material. 
I several times saw this process of making heat, It takes an 



EXCUESION TO HEBE ON. 



203 



incredible amount of this light fuel, but they succeed in mak- 
ing a very hot fire, and when necessary, in keeping it up day 
after day. I was by this forcibly reminded of the words of the 
Savior : " The grass of the field that to-day is, and to-morrow 
is cast into the oven." 

Eut we are now close upon the ancient city. The soil upon 
the hill-sides and in the valleys is mostly of a deep yellow, in 
some places quite red. Some of the vines you pass have the 
marks of great age. Occasionally we walk upon the remains 
of the pavement of the ancient road that once constituted the 
great thoroughfare to Jerusalem. Important personages have 
traveled along the way we are now walking. Over this road 
Abraham probably traveled on that solemn errand, when he 
went with his son Isaac to lay him, in obedience to the com- 
mand of the Almighty, upon the altar of sacrifice. Over this 
road Jacob walked on his journey to Haran, when he fied from 
his angry brother Esau. Over this road David led his invading 
army, when he went np and wrested Jerusalem from the pos- 
session of the Jebusites, and made it the city of the Great King, 
and the capital of the Hebrew nation. And here, too, proba- 
bly, Joseph and Mary passed with the child Jesus, when they 
fied from the blood-thirsty Herod into Egypt. Come, stand 
upon this eminence and look out upon these hills, yet covered 
with the vine, and cast your eye along the rich 

VALLEY or ESCHOL. 

IS'ow you are reminded of the story of the spies, sent out by 
Moses as he emerged from the great wilderness, and came upon 
the borders of the Promised Land. And is it possible that 
grapes ever grow here in such enormous clusters as this narra- 
tive represents? These hills enjoy an elevation, and are favored 
with a climate in which the vine fiourishes most luxuriantly. 
Indeed, Jewish tradition says the vine here had its primeval 
seat. Here, according to the prophetic declaration of Jacob, 
Judah was to have his inheritance: "Binding his foal unto the 
vine, and his asses' colt unto the choice vine, he washed his 
garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes." It 
was not the time of grapes when I was here, but modern ac- 



204 



THE HOLY LAND. 



counts sufficiently confirm the fact, the Eschol grape still pro- 
duces clusters of astonishing size. The autumn before leaving 
home I visited a grapery in Cleveland, Ohio, where the propri- 
etor was cultivating a slip from a vine in this valley, and it 
then had two clusters not yet ripe, each two and a half feet 
long, and which would weigh from six to eight pounds, and I 
was assured they had been grown in other graperies much 
larger than this. If such is the size of these clusters when 
grown in foreign climes, what might we not expect to see, 
when growing in their own native soil, and under the genial 
influence of their own sunny clime ? Indeed, the testimony of 
many travelers unite in fixing the weight of some of these clus- 
ters at from ten to fourteen pounds. But here, too, is the 
Plain of Mamre, and there is 

Abraham's oak, 

Spreading wide its luxuriant shade. Just by it is a beautiful 
spring of water, and you may come and refresh yourself, and 
find protection from the scorching rays of the sun. The Lord 
appeared unto Abraham in the Plain of Mamre, or, as some say, 
it should be translated " the Plain of Oaks ; " and he sat in his 
tent door in the heat of the day. It was while thus seated the 
angels appeared to him, and announced the solemn event of the 
approaching destruction of the cities of the plain. And 
that high eminence, a little to the east of us — si mountain-top, 
from which you can see the blue waters of the Mediterranean 
on the one hand, and the deep valley of the Jordan on the 
other — is pointed out as the spot where this hoary patriarch 
stood, and saw the smoke of Sodom ascending from the deep 
gulf between the mountains of Moab on the east, and the hills 
of Engedi on the west. 

''But you do not believe," says one, "this is the oak under 
which Abraham pitched his tent ? " l^o ; though some of the 
credulous Arabs about you will affirm it is the veritable one. 
But though not the one, it is a descendant, and a conspicuous 
one among the very few representatives of its ancient progeni- 
tor. There it stands, and there it has stood probably for a 
thousand years. This tree stands alone, the ground about it 



HISTORY OF HEBRON. 



207 



smootli and covered with a thick carpet of grass. It is twenty- 
three feet in circumference at the base, and its huge branches 
spread over a diameter of about ninety feet. It stands, one of 
the last of that sacred forest, where Abraham entertained 
angels as his guests, and communed familiarly with his Maker. 
A walk of about twenty-five minutes from Abraham's Oak 
down the valley brings us to 

HEBRON. 

This is one of the oldest cities in the world, and has a long 
and varied history, but we can not dwell upon it here. A 
thousand interesting incidents are connected with it. Every 
spot about it has been consecrated by the tread of patriarchs 
and prophets. In the days of Abraham's first visit it was 
called Kirjath Arba, from Arba, the father of Anak, from whom 
descended the giant Anakims. The Israelites, under Joshua, 
took it from the descendants of Anak, and it was assigned to 
the Levites, and subsequently set apart as one of the six cities 
of refuge. David, upon his accession to the throne of Judah, 
established himself at Hebron, and reigned here seven and a 
half years prior to the removal of his court to Jerusalem. 
The city was laid in ruins at 'the time of the Babylonian cap- 
tivity, and rebuilt after the return of the Jews. It was after- 
wards conquered and held by the Edomites, and rescued from 
them by Judas Maccabeus. Then came the Eoman conquest, 
and it is said thousands of the captive Jews were brought here, 
and sold into slavery at the Oak beside Hebron. Afterwards 
came the Mohammedan desolation, and then the victorious 
Crusaders, and the city under them was made a Latin bishopric. 
The Moslems again displaced the Crusaders, and have since 
remained masters of the place. What changes have here taken 
place since the patriarchs made this their favorite camping 
ground, and their flocks herded in these valleys, and grazed 
upon these hill-sides ! 

Modern Hebron contains a population of about ten thousand. 
The houses are mostly of stone, two to three stories high, and 
very strongly built. For some half a mile before entering the 
city, we were traveling upon a road coarsely paved with large 



208 



THE HOLY LAND. 



bowlders, and walled on each side five or six feet high. An 
archway supporting a gate, seemed to be built merely to de- 
fend the road, as there is no wall about the town. A small 
garrison of Turkish soldiers are quartered here, as well as in all 
the other prominent towns of Palestine. We entered the place 
about two o'clock. There is no hotel, or public house, for the 
accommodation of travelers. 'We made application to a Jew 
who had been recommended to us at Jerusalem. One of our 
number could converse with him in German, and in that lan- 
guage the negotiation was conducted. There were seven of us in 
company. He had but one room and one bed. It was at last ar- 
ranged that we should have the room, lunch, supper and break- 
fast for five dollars. They were a kind-hearted family, and 
did the best they could for us ; but with the miserable, filthy 
cookery, the camp on the floor, and the multitude of fleas, we 
did not pass a delightfully pleasant night. 

We learned from our host that there were about forty fam- 
ilies of Jews in the place. Many of the race make a pilgrim- 
age here to visit the home and burial place of their great 
ancestor, but Moslem intolerance prevents many of them from 
making it a home. Aside from a few Jews, Turkish soldiers and 
native Mohammedans make up the population. Franks and 
the Frank dress are much more of a novelty here than at J e- 
rusalem and Bethlehem, as but few visit the place. The people 
stared at us; the children followed after us; some of the ruder 
ones hooted at us, and occasionally a stone would come whirl- 
ing along our path. We walked through the bazars, and 
bought oranges, figs and raisins, and visited some of the estab- 
lishments where glass bracelets, beads and other ornaments are 
made, large quantities of which are manufactured here and 
exported to other cities. 

Among the curiosities of the place are two large pools, or 
reservoirs of water, evidently of great antiquity. The lower 
one is called the Pool of David. 

It is a square, each side one hundred and thirty feet, the 
depth fifty feet. It is very firmly built, with large hewn stones. 
It aftbrds an abundant supply of water, a large stream constant- 
ly flowing through it. This is supposed to be the pool over 



VISIT TO HEBKOK 



209 



which David hung the murderers of Ishbosheth, as recorded in 
the 4th chapter of 2nd Samuel. Tradition also points out 
some other localities here, but they need evidence to authenti- 
cate them, or are too absurd to claim credence, and we did not 
inquire for them. Such are the tombs of Abner — of Jesse, 
David's father — the spot where Abel fell beneath the murder- 
ous hand of Cain, and the red earth from which Adam was 
made. But the great attraction of the place, the sacred spot 
which Jew, Christian and Moslem alike reverence, is the 

CAVE OP MACHPELAH. 

Sarah died in Kirjath Arba — the same is Hebron — and Ab- 
raham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. But 
Abrahatn was among strangers, and had as yet made no pro- 
vision for the burial of his dead. The stern necessity was now 
forced upon him by this bereavement. He had received the 
promise of the Almighty, that this land should be a lasting in- 
heritance for his children, and why should he not now make 
arrangements for a permanent resting place for himself and 
family ? A negotiation was conducted in true oriental style, 
and the first bargain and sale which we have on record, resulted 
in the purchase of the sons of Heth, of the cave of Machpelah. 
The specification is very definite. He bought the field and the 
cave that was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, 
and that were in the borders round about. The purchase price 
was four hundred shekels of silver, and the title deed was con- 
firmed in the presence of the children of Heth, at the gate of 
the city, before all that went in and out. 

This cave is upon the hill-side, close upon the borders of the 
city. Of the identity of the place there can be little doubt. 
Through a long succession of near four thousand years it has 
been preserved ; Jews, Christians, and Moslems have in turn 
possessed it, and watched over it with jealous care. It is now 
inclosed by a massive stone wall, two hundred feet Icmg, one 
hundred and fifty feet broad, and about sixty feet high. 
Within this harem, as it is called, or forbidden inclosure, stands 
a Turkish mosque, once a Christian church, and for aught I 
know, before that a Jewish synagogue. Beneath that mosque 



210 



THE HOLY LA^y^D. 



is the cave. The story of the little cluster of graves concealed 
there, is best told in the pathetic language of Jacob. In the 
land of Egypt he gathered his sons around his dying bed, and 
exacted an oath from them that he should not be buried amono; 
strangers in Egypt. "I am to be gathered unto my people ; 
bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of 
Ephron, the Hittite. There they buried Abraham and Sarah 
his wife ; there they buried Isaac and Eebekah his wife ; and 
there I buried Leah." 

And Joseph went up from Egypt with a great retinue of 
chariots and horsemen, and servants, and kindred, with great 
pomp and ceremony, and laid the embalmed body of his father 
to rest with his kindred. Here, then, within that massive wall, 
beneath the dome of that mosque, are enshrined the ashes of 
the six ancestors of the Hebrew nation. Is it any wonder that 
the Jew still lingers around this consecrated spot — that they 
should cling to it as they do to the moss-grown stones that mark 
the foundation of their Holy Temple ? 

Would you like to visit this sepulchral abode of the vener- 
able dead? You attempt it at your peril. You will not have 
reached the bottom of the stone steps that ascend to the door 
of the in closure, before a dozen Turkish soldiers will stand 
athwart your path, and a dozen gleaming bayonets will warn 
you back. Like the tomb of David, on Mount Zion, or the 
site of Solomon's Temple, on Mount Moriah, it is too sacred a 
place to be polluted by the foot of a Christian. For many 
hundreds of years it has been thus jealously guarded and it 
has been only by accident or stealth that any knowledge of the 
interior could be obtained. "Why is this? Mohammedans have 
a high regard for the patriarchs of Old Testament history, espe- 
cially for Abraham, whom they call El-Khidil — " the friend of 
God." In the long succession of wars that have taken place 
for the possession of these ancient and sacred places, in which 
Jevv^, Christian, and Mohammedan have alternately held the 
mastery, a deep and settled spirit of hostility has been nurtured. 
Eor many generations it has been perpetuated, and many more 
will elapse before it will be eradicated. After many changes, 
the Mohammedans, in 1187, succeeded in wresting this place 



CAYE OF MACHPELAH. 



211 



from the crusading Christians. They converted the church 
into a mosque, closed the gates against the admission of Chris- 
tians, and with most unwavering hostihty, have not to this day 
relaxed in the least their jealous watchfulness over it. 

TTe have spoken of the early history of Hebron, its wars and 
changes — of the crusading period, when again and again it 
was ravaged by successive masters. Its modern history has not 
been more favorable for its peace and prosperity. It was oc- 
casionally visited by travelers, until towards the latter part of 
the seventeenth century. From that period, through a long 
succession of years, few, if any, Frank travelers found their 
way to it. The people were restless, hostile and warhke. 
About one hundred years ago, Bethlehem and Hebron waged 
a bloody war against each other, and a majority of the best in- 
habitants of both villages, as well as of the surrounding coun- 
try, were destroyed. The neighborhood of Bethlehem was 
ravaged and laid waste. From 1806 to 1833, mention is made 
of only five or six Frank travelers visiting this place. In 1834, 
Hebron and the surrounding country engaged in a desperate 
rebellion against their Turkish rulers. But they only brought 
heavy chastisements upon themselves. Ibrahim Pasha marched 
down upon them with a large force ; the rebels met him, and 
gave him battle near Solomon's Pools. Here they suffered a 
signal defeat, and retreating, they intrenched themselves in 
Hebron. Ibrahim carried the place by storm, and vexed at 
the obstinacy of the inhabitants, gave it up to be sacked and 
pillaged by his soldiers. From this blow, it is said Hebron 
has never recovered. As one of the results of this war, all 
obstacles to the visit of travelers have been removed, and more 
or less every year find their way here, to look upon the home 
of the ancient patriarchs. 

I went up to the top of the hill that overlooks the city, and 

the harem inclosing the cave, that, amid all these changes, has 

commanded the respect of conquerors and conquered. I sat 

down upon a large rock, and mused upon the events that had 

transpired around me. Thought wandered back into the dim 

obscurity of the earliest records of our race. I looked away 

toward the east — the land '-the other side of the flood'' — the 
13 



212 



THE HOLY LAND. 



ancient home of the Chaldean race. I saw Abraham, the 
father of the faithful, separating himself from his home and 
kindred, wandering in the land of strangers, until he came and 
pitched his tent under the oak upon the plain that lay just at 
my feet. I saw him communing with angels, and conversing 
familiarly with his Grod. I saw Isaac, in the blindness of his 
old age, laying his hand upon the head of Jacob, and pro- 
nouncing the blessing upon him. I looked away southward : 
I saw Jacob, with all his household of children and servants, 
taking his departure toward Egypt, to escape the desolations 
of the famine, and to be nurtured in that land of plenty by 
his son Joseph, whom he had long supposed dead. I saw that 
dutiful son returning with the embalmed body of his father, to 
lay him, in obedience to his promise, in that sepulchral cave just 
beneath me, where they buried Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and 
Eebekah, and where he had buried Leah ; and then, in imagin- 
ation, I looked down into that home of the illustrious dead. 
"Would that I could with one stroke annihilate the intolerance 
that for near seven hundred years has held dominion there ; 
throw open those iron doors and enter. But what would I see ? 
Could I find the tomb of the '-Father of the Faithful?" 
Could I recognize the ashes of Isaac, the child of promise, in 
whose seed the nations of the earth have been blessed ? But 
Jacob was embalmed, and many bodies embalmed long before 
his death still exist. How I should like to look for once on 
the form of that old patriarch, upon whose monument the 
storms of thirty-five hundred years have spent their force. 

I was aroused from my revery by a troop of young Hebron- 
ites, who came noisily upon me, with a lot of old coins, beads 
and relics, which they were anxious to dispose of for a few 
piasters. I stopped to barter with them, and they followed 
me to the foot of the hill and into the town, until I was 
forced, even with rudeness, to check their importunities. 

Our visit to the home of the patriarchs was over. We had 
fifteen to eighteen miles to walk on our return, and the sun 
was already shining hot in the heavens. We bade farewell to 
the Jewish family that had opened their doors for us, left 



VISIT TO ETHAM. 



213 



Hebron and all its interesting associations behind, and retraced 
our steps homeward. 

SOLOMON'S BEAUTIFUL GARDENS. 

As we approached Bethlehem, we again turned aside from 
our main path into a valley bounded on each side by high rocky 
hills, pointed out as the site of ancient Etam, or Etham, the 
supposed place of Solomon's gardens. Its location is in the 
valley, just below the Pools of Solomon. Josephus speaks of 
a place about six miles from Jerusalem, called Etham, pleasant 
for its fine gardens, and aboundiug in rivulets of water, to 
which Solomon was accustomed to make his morning drives, 
sitting on high in his chariot. The same great monarch, allud- 
ing to himself, says: "I made me great works; I builded me 
houses; I planted me vineyards; I made me gardens and 
orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit ; I 
made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that 
bringeth forth trees." EccL ii, 4, 5. Tradition has long 
pointed out this valley as the place alluded to in these quota- 
tions. The valley is a narrow one, but very fertile ; high, shelv- 
ing banks of limestone rising on either side, and a beautiful 
stream of clear water dashing along its rocky bed. A miserable 
Arab village, mostly in ruins, called Urtas, has long existed 
here. A few ruins are scattered about the valley, a wall of 
• hewn stone, the massive foundation of an ancient tower, exca- 
vated rocks, and old grottoes in the hill-sides, are the memen- 
toes of ancient and more prosperous times. 

A few years since a Mr. Mashellam, a converted Jew, com- 
menced improvements here, intending to instruct young Jews 
in agricultural arts, and prepare them to gain a livelihood by 
cultivating the soil of their fatherland. His efforts thus far 
have been very successful. Under his transforming hand, the 
neglected valley is assuming its ancient fertility and beauty. 
He is able to irrigate the soil by the copious streams of water 
that come down, not only from the old pools of Solomon, but 
other portions of the valley above. I saw him at work in his 
grounds, in the midst of vineyards, fig and olive groves, a little 
paradise of greenness and verdure, in contrast with the barren. 



214 



THE HOLY LAND. 



rocky hills around. The productiveness of the soil, he assured 
me, was wonderful. By properly arranging his succession of 
crops, he gets four harvests in a year. 

But the design we have in making such particular allusion to 
this place, is to call attention to some excavations of ancient 
ruins just being made. A short time before I was there, Mr. 
Mashellam, in digging in a portion of these grounds, came 
upon a wall of heavy stone that excited his curiosity, and 
through the assistance of some French gentlemen, interested 
in antiquities, who furnished him capital, he had, when I was 
there, near a hundred Arab men, women and children, at work, 
clearing the dirt and rubbish from this work of ancient times, 
that for many generations had been entirely covered by the 
accumulated debris of the valley. "And what," you ask, 
" were these ruins, and to what age, and to whose constructing 
hand are they likely to be traced?" A large room, some 
twenty feet by forty, had been cleared when I was there, with 
sides of hewn stone, and polished marble ornaments, with 
marble floor, inlaid with mosaics. A division wall separated 
this large room into two, in the smaller one of which were the 
marble baths, with the water courses, and fountains, and retir- 
ing rooms, just as they originally stood when in use. 

These discoveries seemed about to confirm the ancient tradi- 
tions relating to this spot. Here were the gardens, and here 
the fountains, of costly and elaborate workmanship, that 
adorned the grounds. How wonderful are the revelations of 
modern researches and discoveries ! What a refl.ection, as the 
mind, with the rapidity of thought, wandered backward 
nearly three thousand years ! And here the great and wise 
monarch of Israel had lived, planned and executed! Here he 
had acquired a portion of that experience, that, from its unsat- 
isfactory results, had led him to pronounce the sentence, 
"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." The queen of Sheba came 
from the far south to see the wisdom of Solomon. Did that 
monarch, when he walked upon the walls of yonder huge 
reservoirs, or rested in the fragrant shades of these gardens, 
or cooled himself in these costly baths, ever dream that in 
long, long ages after, men and women would come, not from 



MOURNING WOMEN. 



215 



Ethiopia, but from the far distant regions of a then unknown 
world, and from far across unknown waters, to stand where he 
stood, to wonder at his greatness, and be astonished at the ex- 
humed monuments of his wealth and power ? 

Again we chmbed the rocky hill-side that led up to Bethle- 
hem. I^ight was settling down upon the landscape as the 
doors of the convent were opened for us, and with weary limbs 
and blistered feet, we sought refreshment and rest. 

A MORNING IN BETHLEHEM. 

April 11th. On going out of the convent gate this morning, 
I had an illustration of the practice of mourning for the dead, 
reminding one vividly of the allusions in scripture. Just east 
of the convent gate was a small burying-ground, and a number 
of women were seated around a new-made grave, all dressed in 
long white robes, with white vails, uttering shrill, piercing 
wails of sorrow. On inquiry, I found the interment had taken 
place the day before, and the women this morning, like Mary 
of old, were " early at the sepulchre." I was also reminded 
of what the Jews said of the sister of Lazarus, when she left 
the house, She goeth to the grave to weep there." 

We had also a little time to w^ander about the town, visit the 
shops and trade with the natives, during which time, after 
much eftbrt and long bartering, I succeeded in purchasing one 
of the curious head-dresses worn by the girls. I had several 
times before endeavored to procure one, but without success, 
as the young ladies seem extremely loth to part with them. 
They consist of a woolen cap, fitting close to the head, cloth 
more or less rich and embellished, ornamented in front with 
heavy rows of coin. The one I purchased, I found, upon more 
minute examination, was ornamented with more than two hun- 
dred pieces of silver coin, ranging in value from three cents to 
half a dollar, making an aggregate value of a little over nine 
dollars, besides the silver chain used to fasten it under the chin. 
Our visit was ended. Adieu, Bethlehem, birth-place of the 
Savior ! Adieu, ye plains where shepherds kept their flocks, 
where David held communion wdth his God ! A walk of five 
miles, and again we were in Jerusalem. 



216 



THE HOLY LAND. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

Excursion to Jordan and the Dead Sea — Ancient and Mod- 
ern Jericho — Ford of the Jordan — Appearance of the Sea. 

We had now another excursion to make, one to which we 
had looked forward with great interest, and for which we had 
been several days preparing — this was a visit to Jordan and the 
Dead Sea. This excursion usually occupies three days — the first 
day from Jerusalem to Jericho — here you spend the night ; 
the second day to the ford of the Jordan, thence to the Dead 
Sea, and back to Jericho, where you spend the second night ; 
thence, the third day returning to Jerusalem. Here you are 
going into a hostile portion of the country, and must take your 
supplies with you — provisions, tent, etc.; and as the safety of 
the country has not improved since the days of the Savior, 
when a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and 
fell among thieves, you must take an armed escort with you. 
The Arabs on the Jerusalem side of the Jordan are all friendly ; 
it is the Moabite Arabs, from the other side of the Jordan, who 
are constantly making predatory excursions across to the plains 
of Jericho, against whom you have to guard. Two or three 
robberies had already taken place this season, and we were ad- 
monished to be on the alert. 

A sheik of the friendly tribe who lived near Jericho, and who 
had come up to Jerusalem in search of employment, ofiered 
us his services. The usual price charged by the sheiks is about 
five dollars for each traveler, but as there were some twelve or 
fifteen of us to go, he concluded to charge us only about two 
and a half dollars apiece. The keeper of the German Hospice 
furnished us horses and tents, with servants to attend to and 
manage them for us ; this cost us each about one dollar and a 
quarter a day, while each one was expected to look out for 



A EIDE TO JERICHO. 



217 



himself for his three days' rations. Myself and comrade put a 
couple of dollars into the right hand of Joseph, our convent 
oook, and a liberal backsheesh into his left, and forthwith our 
traveling bags were so bountifully stuffed from the convent 
stores, with bread, ham, fried chickens, cheese, raisins, figs and 
the like, that no fears of famine haunted us during our excur- 
sion. Under this arrangement, our three days' excursion cost 
us about nine dollars each. A more common method is to hire 
a dragoman, who furnishes escort, tents, provisions, and all 
needed requisites; in this way it usually costs each traveler 
from fifteen to twenty dollars. 

All things being in readiness, we left Jerusalem between ten 
and eleven o'clock, passed out of St. Stephen's Gate, crossed 
the valley of Jehoshaphat and the brook Kidron, wound 
around the southern brow of Olivet, leaving Bethany a little 
distance upon our left. In about an hour, having passed over 
a desolate looking rocky ridge, and wound our way down a 
long stony declivity into a deep, wild looking ravine, we came to 
a fine fountain of water. This is supposed to be the Enshe- 
mesh mentioned by Joshua, xv. 7, in designating the boundaries 
of the tribes. The fountain was formerly fitted up at great ex- 
pense ; a large stone trough still remains, and over it an old 
Saracenic arch, while the great hewn stones that once consti- 
tuted the building are scattered about in wild confusion. At 
this place travelers from Jerusalem to Jericho always stop 
to refresh themselves; and here, no doubt, the Savior and 
his disciples often rested as they passed between the two places. 

Leaving this fountain, we passed on for a couple of hours 
through a rough, hilly country. The valleys were cultivated, 
and occasionally a fellah could be seen driving his antique 
looking plow through the soil, w^hile cultivated patches of 
barley could be seen upon the hill-sides, and occasionally a 
flock of sheep or goats, watched by the women or children. 
These hills still bore traces of the ancient terraces, and in the 
growing crops gave evidence of the fertility they still possessed. 
Soon the country became more wild and broken ; the hills rose 
up in rugged aspect about us, and the defiles were deep and 
narrow. Some idea of these may be formed from the picture 



218 



THE HOLY LAND. 



upon the opposite page. About one o'clock we were climbing 
along a rocky ascent, so difficult, both from the steepness of 
its sides and of the rocks that blocked the road, we were com- 
pelled to dismount and lead our horses. On the top of this 
bleak elevation, we found the ruins of an immense stone 
building ; old, dilapidated walls and ruined arches are still left 
standing. There is also a deep well, cut in the solid rock, 
while great caverns have been hewn in the hill-sides. When 
and by whom these were constructed, none can now tell. Upon 
this hill we stopped, and in the shade of the old walls took 
our noon-day lunch. 

Again we were on our way, sometimes climbing the hill-sides, 
sometimes making a precipitous descent into some deep valley ; 
now we were trying to select the place where the man in the 
parable fell among thieves, and sometimes were wondering if 
such a place was not the location of the inn where the good 
Samaritan brought him. Then, again, we were trying to im- 
agine if there was any danger of our sharing the same fate ; 
and as we looked along some rocky gorge, we could almost 
fancy we caught glimpses of the lurking Bedawin, with his 
old musket and flowing robe. As we approached the Jordan, 
the country became more broken — the mountains higher — the 
ravines deeper — the peaks sharper, their sides more precipit- 
ous, sometimes broken into ragged cliffs, rising almost perpen- 
dicularly to a dizzy hight. These cliffs were mostly limestone, 
sometimes of a chalky whiteness, resting upon a base of varie- 
gated flint. One writer aptly remarks of these mountains, 
they " seem to have been loosened from their foundations, and 
rent to pieces by some terrible convulsion, and then left to be 
scathed by the burning rays of the sun." 

ELIJAH AND THE RAVENS. 

About four o'clock, as we wound our way, at a high elevation, 
around one of these great chalky cliffs, we saw upon our left a 
deep ravine, where the water had cut its way far down into the 
soft limestone rock, making a high waterfall, and a deep, wild- 
looking gorge. That brook was Cherith, and that wild, se- 
questered place, the traditional spot where Elijah hid himself 





A WILD MOUNTAIN DEFILE BETWEEN JERUSALEM AND JERICHO. 



THE BKOOK CHEEITH. 



221 



from the persecuting Ahab, and where the ravens brought him 
bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the 
evening. We dismounted, and clambered down the rocky sides 
to get a better view of the place, and to listen to the dashing 
water as it went leaping over the cataract, and sparkling along 
its bed of foam. " And here," we said, the faithful prophet 
was miraculously sustained while the dearth was in the land, 
until the brook was dried up ; " and while we were thinking 
upon the strange event, just at that very moment, as if to add 
to the vividness of the scripture narrative, a large black raven 
set up a croaking almost immediately over my head. I looked 
up, almost expecting to see him with a supply in his mouth, on 
an errand of mercy for the old prophet of the Lord. A more 
secluded glen, or appropriate hiding place, could scarcely be 
imagined. This ravine is now called "Wady el Kelt, is very 
narrow, and from four hundred to five hundred feet deep. 
The sides are almost perpendicular, and the noisy streamlet 
that goes gliding through it is fringed with oleander and 
other shrubs. The steep, rocky acclivities are pierced with 
numerous grottoes, in former ages the abodes of anchorites, who 
sought salvation in acts of austerity about all these localities 
that had been marked by the miracles of scripture. The 
mouth of this ravine, where it opens upon the valley just below 
us, is undoubtedly the valley of Achor, where Achan was 
.stoned. 

Occasionally on our route we could see the remains of the 
old Eoman road that once led from Jerusalem to the rich 
plains and populous city of the Jordan. How different now 
from the days when these hills were adorned with the olive and 
the vine — when Herod, Cleopatra, and other kings and princes, 
were accustomed to ride here in courtly pomp and splendor. 
The hill we were now on was one of those that skirted the 
plain of the Jordan, and as we wound around it, suddenly, 
from our high elevation, we caught a view of the country 
below, and the waters of that wonderful sea of death that roll 
their leaden waves over the ruined and sunken cities that once 
existed there. By a long and winding descent, we at last 
reached the plain, very near the site of old Jericho. This, to 



222 



THE HOLY LAND. 



US, was a place of great interest, and it was with no ordinary 
feelings of awe and reverence we rode over the ground where 
stood the city renowned in the wonderful conquests of Joshua. 
Though we returned to the place and examined it more leis- 
urely, we shall, for the sake of a more connected narrative, 
give the whole account as we proceed. 

THE THREE JERICHOES. 

As we struck the plain we turned to the left, riding a little 
more than a mile along the base of the hills, when we were 
upon the supposed site of ancient Jericho, or the Jericho of the 
Old Testament — the City of Palm Trees. I^ear by is the valley 
of Achor, where the terrible execution of Achan took place. 
The high mountain that rises up in the rear of the place is 
called Quarantania, from its being the traditional place of the 
forty days' fast of the Savior. Between it and Jerusalem is the 
wilderness of Judea. The mountain has a desolate and gloomy 
appearance. Upon its top may be seen a little, solitary look- 
ing chapel of the monks, while along up its chalky, precipit- 
ous sides, may still be seen numerous caves and grottoes, dug 
in more superstitious times, by religious devotees, and once in- 
habited by these misguided zealots. I noticed several of these 
high up the cliff had been seized upon by some poor Arab 
families, and converted into temporary residences. !N"o one 
looking upon the scenery here, can fail to appreciate the accu- 
rate description of Milton : 

" It was a mountain at whose verdant feet 
■ A spacious plain, outstretched in circuit wide, 
Lay pleasant; from his side two rivers flowed, 
The one winding, the other straight, and left between 
Fair champaign with less rivers intervened. 
Then meeting joined their tribute to the sea ; 
Fertile of corn the glebe, of oil, and wine ; 
With herds the pastures thronged, with flocks the hills; 
Huge cities and high-towered, that well might seem 
The seats of mightiest monarchs, and so large 
The prospect was, that here and there was room 
For barren desert, fountainless and dry. 
To this high mountain, too, the tempter brought 
Our Savior, and new train of words began." 



JEKICHO OF JOSHUA. 



223 



ITear by, in the midst of luxuriant and tangled foliage, 
bursting from the base of a high mound, is a copious fountain 
of water, now called Fountain of the Sultan. The water is 
slightly tepid but sweet. There can be no doubt but this is the 
fountain whose waters were healed by the prophet Elisha (2 
Kings, xix. 22); therefore we are certain here is the site of ancient 
Jericho — here was the Jericho of Joshua and the prophets. 
The whole plain about here is covered with mounds of ancient 
ruins, heaps of rough stones, the whole intermingled with 
fragments of pottery, while large portions are overgrown and 
almost concealed from view by tall weeds, and a luxuriant 
growth of brushwood. 

We drinked from the waters of the fountain, recalling the 
story of their miraculous cleansing by the prophet of the 
Lord ; then climbed the high mound from the base of which 
they spring, and sat down to recall the former history of the 
place, and reflect upon its utter overthrow. E"ot a vestige of 
that old city now remains; and yet what wonderful events 
have here transpired ! Here, on this very spot, the great work 
of the conquest and subjugation of the land by the Israelites 
commenced. We could look across the plain of the Jordan to 
the hills of Moab, where the hosts of Israel were encamped. 
To this place Joshua sent spies. Here they were received and 
hid by Rahab, until they could be sent away in safety. Here 
it was that the mysterious circuit of the city was made by 
seven priests, bearing seven trumpets, accompanied by the ark 
of God, when, on the seventh day, the walls were overthrown. 
The destruction of Jericho was complete ; it was not only ut- 
terly overthrown, but a curse of a most singular kind was pro- 
nounced against the one that should rebuild it : " Cursed be 
the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city 
Jericho ; he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first born, 
and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it." 

JERICHO REBUILT. 

A little more than five hundred years after its destruction, 
in the reign of the wicked king Ahab, Hiel the Bethelite, 
either having forgotten the curse, or impiously defying it, com- 



224 



THE HOLY LAND. 



menced rebuilding the city. The graphic description given us 
in the word of God is: "He laid the foundation thereof in 
Abiram, his first born, and set up the gates thereof in his 
youngest son Segub" (1 Kings, xvi. 34) ; meaning, as we are 
told, that the death of his children commenced with the com- 
mencement of the work, and its completion found him child- 
less. This second Jericho became quite a flourishing city, and 
many of the interesting events of the days of the prophets are 
connected with it. A wild mountain pathway led from this 
place to Bethel, an easy day's journey distant. It was along 
this pathway that Elisha was traveling, just after he had wit- 
nessed the strange translation of Elijah, when the ill-bred 
children gathered around him, and in mock derision of what 
he had reported of his master, cried out : " Go up, thou bald 
head ! " This act of hatred against God and his prophets was 
severely punished, and forty-two of these children, the account 
informs us, were torn of wild beasts. The event is recorded as 
an admonition to those parents who neglect the education of 
their children, and a warning to the young against disrespect to 
the aged, and disobedience to the commands of God. 

THE FIRST LITERARY INSTITUTION. 

Here was not only a home for Elijah and Elisha, but here 
they established a school of the prophets, and to this place 
young men gathered to be instructed in the knowledge of 
God. In connection with this place and this school, we have 
an account, I believe, of the building of the first theological in- 
stitution on record. These sons of the prophets said to Elisha : 
" Behold now the place where we dwell with thee is too strait 
for us." So they proposed to go down to the Jordan, only a 
short distance, and cut timber, and take every one of them a 
beam, and build a house to dwell in. It seems they were con- 
tent with a more humble college than modern taste demands. 
They did not send to Lebanon for beams of cedar, or to the 
quarry for blocks of marble ; willing to labor with their own 
hands, they went with their president to the Jordan, to cut the 
timber that grew upon its banks. Like most theological 
students, they were poor, and the very tools they used upon the 



BUILDING A COLLEGE. 



225 



occasion appear to have been borrowed. As they were chop- 
ping, one of them lost the head of his ax in the river. Had 
it been his own he would not so much have cared. Many 
people are very careless of borrowed things ; not so with this 
conscientious student. "Alas! Master, it was borrowed." 
Elijah helped him out of the difficulty by cutting a stick, and 
by some strange, miraculous power, making the iron swim upon 
the surface of the water. How I wish there could have been 
some photographic views of this scene preserved — of the old 
bald-headed president and his industrious pupils sweating 
under the burden of their labors, as they added log after log to 
their humble structure. How I wish I could take a peep into 
the rooms of their literary associations, and see their libraries, 
and the emblems of their Aleph Baith Gimel, and Saraech 
Teth Sheen societies. Alas ! all is buried in the oblivion that 
has crept over the place But their theology was better than 
their college, while many a modern college is better than its 
theology. 

Of the subsequent history of this Jericho of the prophets 
little is known. On the site of these instructive events the 
traveler now sees nothing but mounds of earth, mixed with 
stones and bits of broken pottery ; the wild weeds, the thorn, 
and the brier grow in rank and tangled masses ; no human 
form is seen ; no human voice greets the ear ; nothing is heard 
but the song of the wild bird, and the gush of the running 
waters from the Fountain of Elisha. 

THE JERICHO OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

Jericho was again rebuilt ; when, history does not inform us, 
but not upon prescisely the same site. It was about a mile 
farther to the south, and just where we struck the plain as we 
came down the steep descent of the hills, and upon the banks 
of the Kelt or Cherith. One of the first things we saw was 
the ruins of an old aqueduct that was used to carry these 
waters of the hill-side fountains over the plain. The numerous 
crumbling arches of this great work still attest its former mag- 
nificence. Here, also, are the remains of an ancient reservoir, 
four hundred and ninety feet broad, and six hundred and fifty- 



226 



THE HOLY LAND. 



seven feet long, now filled with rubbish, and its walls nearly 
buried from sight. The city that could boast such aqueducts 
and reservoirs, must have been a place of great wealth and 
population. Here was the Jericho of the days of the Savior 
and of Herod. According to Josephus, it was a large and beau- 
tiful city. The country, seventy stadia one way and twenty 
another, was watered by the abundant fountains, while the 
plain was covered with extensive and luxuriant palm groves 
and gardens, reaching even to the banks of the Jordan. These 
gardens not only produced common fruits in abundance, but 
opobalsam, and other choice productions. 

This beautiful city and its environs was given by Mark An- 
tony to Cleopatra, and was bought from her by Herod the 
Great, who made it one of his royal cities. He enriched and 
adorned it, and added many costly buildings. Here, too, this 
luxurious and dissipated prince and monster of iniquity, in the 
midst of his excesses and voluptuous refinements, died. To 
this city the Savior came; here he healed the blind man, and 
here he visited the home of Zaccheus. Of this beautiful and 
magnificent city scarce a vestige now remains. Those beautiful 
gardens have all disappeared ; those precious balsam trees have 
perished, not a representative of them remains in all the land ; 
even those transplanted by Cleopatra to the gardens of Heliop- 
olis in Egypt, have become extinct. Of those beautiful palm 
groves, that once spread for miles over the plain, there was in 
1837 a solitary tree remaining ; now the last representative of 
their beauty and glory has entirely disappeared. 

ENCAMPMENT FOR THE NIGHT. 

Having wandered over the site of these old Jerichoes, we 
passed on in an easterly direction towards the Jordan, near 
a mile, and about 5 o'clock pitched our tents at the usual 
camping ground. It was a beautiful green spot, in the midst 
of a grove of acacia, just upon the banks of the brook Cherith. 
A few rods distant from us was Riha, or the modern J ericho, 
the only representative left of either the place or the name of 
the ancient city. It is a miserable, dirty village of a few dozen 
houses, peopled by a ragged, profligate looking set. A large 



AEAB HOESEM ANSHIP. 



229 



brush fence of the dry hmbs of the thorny nuhk incloses the 
town, intended as a wall of defense against the raids of the 
Moabites. These villagers are represented as being poor and 
profligate, still retaining some of the great vices for which 
Sodom was notorious four thousand years ago. 

There were over twenty in our own company, and on our 
way here two other companies, one of American and one of 
English travelers, joined us; so that when we pitched our tents 
for the night, there were of travelers, escort and attendants, 
between seventy and eighty of us. In addition to this, we had 
scarcely erected our tents, when the company of French offi- 
cers from Beirut, before spoken of, arrived, nearly one hundred 
in number, and bivouacked upon the same ground. So formi- 
dable did this render our encampment in point of numbers, all 
fears of Bedawin or Moabites were completely dissipated. 
Having several Arabic and Bedawin dragomen and sheiks in 
our confederate clans, they amused us with their exhibitions 
of skill in tournament and tiltino^. Their feats of horseman- 
ship were quite exciting. As they sometimes came driving at 
each other at full speed, with their long lances poised in the air, 
they presented a wild and almost terrific appearance. But 
these long Bedawin lances are more formidable in appearance 
than in reality. Their great length renders them almost en- 
tirely useless in a close encounter, and the use of fire-arms fully 
as much so when the parties are at a distance. Still, the Beda- 
win horseman continues to carry them, perhaps in honor of his 
ancestors, though they are about as useless a weapon as he can 
well incumber himself with. Indeed, though we paid a heavy 
tax for our armed escort, we placed but little reliance upon them 
for protection. A sheik with one of these long, cumbrous 
lances in his hand, and a pair of old, rusty horse-pistols in his 
belt, and two tawny assistants, each with an old flint-lock mus- 
ket, was all the guard furnished us. Of these two muskets I 
noticed, after we started, that one the locks had no flint in it, 
and very likely the barrel had no load, and so little reliance did 
the carrier place upon it, he never discovered the defect till we 
got back to Jerusalem. 

^e kindled a fii'e, boiled some cofl'ee, and ate our cold lunch. 



230 



THE HOLY LAITD. 



J ust at dusk a company of the Arabs came out to entertain us 
with some of their wild songs and dances, ending with an earn- 
est importunity for a backsheesh. The dogs of the village, 
and the fleas of our tents, gave us but little opportunity for 
sleep, while the thieving villagers were prowling around, watch- 
ing a chance to commit some depredation. In one section of 
our camp a tent was entered, and nearly all their provision 
stolen. 

THE GILGAL OF JOSHUA. 

This portion of the "Plain of the Jordan" is truly a cele- 
brated place. "We have spoken of it as it was known under 
Joshua — the Prophets — the Savior. In the days of the Crusa- 
ders it was also a noted locality. Under them the sugar-cane 
was extensively cultivated here, and the place seems to have 
regained something of its ancient fertihty and celebrity, and 
was considered the garden of Palestine. Large revenues, it is 
said, were drawn from here, which the Latin kings gave to the 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and which were afterwards 
transferred to a convent at Bethany. These revenues, it is 
said, amounted to five thousand pounds sterling per annum, an 
immense sum for those days. In this village, close by us, stands 
a large stone tower, thirty feet square and forty feet high, com- 
manding an extensive view of the plain. This tower is sup- 
posed to have been built in the days of the Crusaders, for the 
protection of the fields and gardens against the Bedawins. 

But the spot where we have encamped had other associations 
connected with it of more intense interest than any of these. 
I forgot the dangers of the night, barking dogs and thieving 
Bedawin, in the remembrance that the very spot upon which 
we were now encamped was the supposed site of Gilgal, the 
first camping place of Israel after crossing the Jordan, and 
where they first set up in the Holy Land the Tabernacle of 
Grod. If so, what a history it has, and by how many striking 
events it has been consecrated ! Here, after their long, weary 
march through the wilderness, they stopped to rest and refresh 
themselves before they commenced the conquest of the land. 
Here, the rite of circumcision, which had been suspended for 



EVENTS AT GILGAL. 



231 



thirty-eight years, was renewed, and, as a consequence, the 
Lord said: "This day have I rolled away the reproach of 
Egypt from off yoii." Josh. v. 9. Here it was the feast of the 
passover was again celebrated, and the people, on the day after 
the passover, eat the old corn of the land, and the manna that 
had been their bread for forty years ceased to fall. By these 
solemn religious rites did Joshua, in the very face of his pow- 
erful enemy, commence his great campaign. Here, too, was 
''holy ground," for here, near Jericho, Joshua stood and lifted 
up his eyes, and saw a Man over against him with his sword 
drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him, and said: 
"Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?" And he said: 
"!N'ay; but as captain of the hosts of the Lord am I now 
come. Loose thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place where- 
on thou standest is holy." And here Joshua fell on his face to 
the earth and worshiped. From here it was that strange ex- 
pedition was fitted out before which the strong walls of yonder 
Jericho were laid even with the ground. Here, in later times^ 
Samuel came to judge Israel; here he offered sacrifices, and 
here he brought Saul to confirm him in the kingdom. Here, 
too, for his rash act of unbidden sacrifice, that kingdom waa 
taken from Saul and his posterity. When David in the rebel- 
lion of Absalom had fled beyond Jordan, it was at this place 
the tribe of Judah assembled to welcome him back; here the 
prophets were accustomed to come, and here some of their 
miracles were performed, as the healing of the poisoned pot- 
tage, the cure of the leprous Syrian, and the punishment of 
Gehazzi. Truly, we have pitched our tent on historic ground, 
and strange things have here transpired ! 

VISIT TO THE JORDAN. 

April 2d. We rose early, impatient to be on our way to the 

Jordan. Our simple breakfast of brown bread, cold meat and 

eggs, was soon over, and by a little after 7 o'clock we were on 

our way to the waters of the sacred stream fraught with so 

many scriptural associations. Our tents were to be left behind, 

and we were to return to them to spend the night, so two or 

three of our servants remained to take charge of them. The 
14 



232 



THE HOLY LAND. 



company of French officers had started a little before us, and 
following in the wake of so strong a military band, we felt 
quite sure our path would be cleared of all prowling bands of 
Moabites. The valley of the Jordan is a deep depression, 
reaching from the base of Hermon on the north, to the Gulf 
of Akaba on the south. A large portion of this valley lies far 
below the level of the sea. Here the Jordan finds a winding 
pathway through a beautiful and fertile plain, till its waters are 
swallowed up and lost in the mysterious sea of death. This 
valley of the Jordan is narrowest just below the sea of Gali- 
lee, and is there six hundred and fifty feet below the waters of 
the Mediterranean ; it expands to its widest dimensions in this 
vicinity of Jericho, and is here from ten to fifteen miles broad, 
and where it touches the waters of the Dead Sea thirteen hun- 
dred and twelve feet below the Mediterranean. Thus the 
waters of the Jordan, in passing from the sea of Galilee to the 
Dead Sea, a distance of about sixty miles, make a descent of 
between six hundred and seven hundred feet. It is said the 
only known instance of a greater fall than this is in the waters 
of the Sacramento, in California. The rapidity the current 
would acquire in making this rapid descent is checked by the 
tortuous course of the waters ; for in passing this distance the 
river actually runs near two hundred miles. 

The western range of hills lying along this portion of the 
valley rises up quite abruptly to the hight of about fifteen hun- 
dred feet; the mountains of Moab upon the east, at first are not 
so abrupt or high, but they continue to rise, peak over peak, as 
they recede from the valley, until they culminate in the tower- 
ing bights of 'Nebo and Abarim, from two thousand to twenty- 
five hundred feet above the plain. These high lands upon both 
sides stretch away to the northward, hedging in with their 
mountain barriers the beautiful plain. Between these gigantic 
walls and the lower terraces that form the bed of the Jordan, 
the river is described as rushing on its way through endless 
sinuosities and contortions, leaping down frequent and most 
fearful rapids, and dashing from side to side of the narrow bed 
in which it is imprisoned, as if struggling to burst the barriers 



PLAIN or THE JOKDAN. 233 

by whicli it is confined, and save its sacred waters from being 
lost in the sea of death below. 

The distance from our encampment to the river in a direct 
line was probably not over three miles, but our coarse being in 
a southeasterly direction, we rode between four and five miles. 
We descended two terraces before reaching the immediate 
bank of the river. These were plainly marked, and the descent 
from one to the other was quite abrupt and several feet high. 

The river lying quite low, and being fringed with thick foli- 
age, cannot be seen till you are close upon it. On we rode, 
eagerly watching for the first glimpse of its waters. We had 
looked down into the valley from the hights of Olivet, from the 
"House of Abraham" at Hebron, and from the look-out at 
Mizpeh, and seen the winding line of its blue range from a dis- 
tance; but we were anxious to stand upon its shore, go down 
into the stream, and mingle our meditatons with the music of 
its waters. As we emerged from a thicket of oleanders and 
willows, "There it is!" burst from several of our party; and 
there, sure enough, it was, and close by its rushing current we 
stood. 

ABATHINTHEJORDAN. 

More than three thousand years ago it was said "Jordan 
overfloweth his banks all the time of harvest." Already the 
fields had commenced whitening for the sickle, and the stream 
was rapidly increasing from the falling rains and melting snows 
of the far distant mountains of Hermon. This freshet gives 
the waters a white, turbid appearance, and they were running 
quite swiftly. The size of the Jordan, of course, varies much 
at difierent seasons of the year, and like other rivers, the width 
and depth are quite different in difierent places, according to the 
nature of the ground. It had now risen so as to nearly cover 
the pebbly shore, and touch in some places the white, clayey 
bank that constituted the lower terrace of the plain. At the 
point where we visited it, the waters were now about one hun- 
dred and twenty feet broad, the depth in the middle of the 
stream probably ten or twelve feet. 

According to the usual custom of visitors, we commenced 



234 



THE HOLY LAND. 



arrangements for a bath when our sheik interposed, declaring 
the current was too swift, and that it would be dangerous to 
enter the stream; that a man had been drowned in this very 
place only a few days before. But we had not come so far to 
be thwarted in our plans by trifles. Being a good swimmer, I 
measured the strength of the current with my eye, and willing 
to risk it, plunged in, and my companions, one after another, 
followed. We found the current quite strong, so that we could 
not venture in to a great depth, but far enough to accomplish 
our purpose of a plunge bath ; some dipping themselves once, 
some in imitation of the leprous Syrian, seven times ! Our bath 
over, we filled our tin bottles, which we had bought of the 
monks at the convent for the purpose, with the water to be 
borne to our far distant homes. And now shall we go ? I^ot 
yet. Wait till we can recall some of the events that have made 
this spot so memorable in the world's history. Several scenes 
have here transpired, any one of which would have given a 
world's immortality to the spot that witnessed it. Come and 
sit down under the shade of this willow, and let us review 
some of these famous events. First, 

ISRAEL'S ENTRANCE TO THE PROMISED LAND. 

This is " The Ford of the Jordan." Look toward the rising 
sun and see that long mountain wall, towering peak beyond 
peak; then look behind you and see the ramparts of hills 
through the narrow defiles of which we reached this place 
from Jerusalem. Here is one of the few passes among these 
long lines of hills by which communication is kept up, and has 
been for thousands of years, between the eastern and western 
portions of the country. From their camping place on yonder 
hights of Moab, the multitudes of Israel came down in tri- 
umphal march toward this beautiful plain. On that plain over 
which our eye can now look, Joshua marshaled his host in 
obedience to the command of his Divine leader. When God 
leads the commander he can safely lead his people. With the 
sacred ark, the symbol of Jehovah's presence borne in front, 
onward the triumphal procession moved. Less than four hun- 
dred years before, seventy souls, to whose posterity the Lord 



1 
i 

] 

I 




Rains of Jericho. 




The River Jordan. 



THE FOKD OF THE JORDAN. 



237 



had promised this land, had gone down into Egypt. We have 
seen them there; looked upon their afflictions, rehearsed the 
story of their bondage and deliverance; followed their track 
through the wilderness, and now here we meet them again, 
numbered by millions, led and defended by an army of six 
hundred thousand trained warriors, ready to claim the inherit- 
ance that God had given by oath to their father Abraham. 

The place was right against Jericho," the time the latter 
part of April, and the Jordan was at its flood ; how was the 
river to be passed? ''And the Lord said unto Joshua, this day 
will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they 
may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. 
And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the 
covenant, saying, when ye come to the brink of the water of 
the Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan." Josh. iii. And 
what was the result ? Onward moved the sacred ark ; behind 
it came the many thousands of Israel. The priests dipped 
their feet in the turbid stream — the waters acknowledged the 
presence of their God. Those ''w^hich came down from above 
stood and rose up upon a heap; and those that came down to- 
wards the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed and were 
cut off ; and the people passed over right against Jeiieho." They 
were moving in obedience to the commands of God, all dangers 
vanished, and all difficulties were overcome. In the path of 
■ duty we need have no fears, sink under no discouragements ; 
God can divide waters and cleave mountains asunder ! 

ELIJAH AND ELISHA AT THE JORDAN. 

The dividing of these waters before the Ark of God is not 
the only time they have felt the direct influence of Divine pow- 
er. We have already looked in upon the school of the proph- 
ets at Jericho, and seen them coming down to Jordan to cut 
timber for their college; but there was another visit of these 
two old prophets to this vicinity worthy of special notice. 
Elijah's history had been a strange and remarkable one, and 
now it was to have a still more remarkable termination. He 
evidently had a presentiment that his earthly mission was fin- 
ished, and he seemed desirous to withdraw himself from all 



238 



THE HOLT LAIS-D. 



associates. The young men of his school noticed something 
unusual in his manner. He was at Gilgal, the very spot where 
our tents are now standing. Elisha looked up to him as a son 
to a father, and seemed resolved not to be separated from him. 
''The Lord hath sent me to Bethel," said Elijah, "tarry thou 
here." But Elisha would not stay, and they went to Bethel. 

Tarry thou here," said Elijah, ''for the Lord hath sent me to 
Jericho." Elisha would not be left behind, and back to Jericho 
they came, "Tarry thou here," said Elijah, "for the Lord hath 
sent me to Jordan." And Elisha said: "As the Lord liveth, 
and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee." And the two 
came hither to Jordan. And the old servant of God took his 
mantle and smote these waters, and they were divided hither 
and thither, and they two passed over. Elijah was born into 
this world on that side of J ordan, from that side he was now 
to be transported to a better. They walked on across the 
plain; IN'ebo, where Moses died, was full in sight. On they 
went, still talking together, and behold, "there appeared a 
chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asun- 
der, and Elijah went up by a lohirhoind into heaven ! " Elisha had 
followed him to Bethel, to Jericho, to Jordan, but he could fol- 
low him no further. He cried out and rent his clothes at the 
bereavement, and with the mantle of his master and a double 
portion of his spirit — what an inheritance ! — retraced his steps. 
Musing on these strange events he comes again to the Jordan. 
By the faith of Elijah a highway had been opened for him to 
go out, but how was he to return? With the mantle of his 
master again he smote the fiood, and the waters were again 
divided, and he returned with the strange news to Jericho. 
But a greater than Elijah has been here; this was the place of 

THE BAPTISM OP JESUS. 

Behind us, among those rugged hills, is the wilderness of 
Judea, where John came preaching; here, roll the waters to 
which the people came to be baptized. Then came Jesus from 
Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. What a 
strange event was that among the wonders that have here 
transpired, when the Son of God came up out of these waters I 



BAPTISM or PILGRIMS. 



239 



In that countenance, radiant with light and Ufe, was seen the 
kindling glory of God; there hovered the emblematic dove, the 
token of the spirit that rested upon him, while a voice from the 
skies broke the awful stillness that had hushed in silence the 
wondering multitude : This is my beloved Son, hear ye him." 
"What event could have given the place a more holy consecra- 
tion? What thrilling associations stir the heart of the Chris- 
tian as he looks upon this place ! 

In commemoration of the baptism of the Savior, a singular 
celebration annually takes place among eastern Christians at 
these waters — at the time of the Greek Easter, multitudes of 
pilgrims gather here to bathe in the waters. We were too early 
in the season to witness this strange celebration, but several 
travelers have given us minute descriptions of the scene. On 
Monday of passion week, the throng of pilgrims, numbered 
by thousands, march down in procession from Jerusalem, under 
the protection of a company of Turkish soldiers, and encamp 
or bivouac upon the plain near Jericho. Early the following 
morning, while it is yet dark, equipped with torches, and most 
of them arrayed in white robes prepared for the occasion, they 
commence a tumultuous march for the Jordan. Lieutenant 
Lynch, of the United States exploring expedition, was en- 
camped here in the spring of 1847, and gives us a graphic de- 
scription of the scene as he then witnessed it. As early as 
three o'clock in the morning they saw thousands of torches 
gleaming through the darkness, and moving toward them. 
Men, women and children, mounted on camels, donkeys, mules, 
and horses, rushing impetuously toward the bank, presenting 
the appearance of fugitives from a routed army. At five 
o'clock, just at the dawn of day, the last part of the proces- 
sion was seen coming over the crest of a high ridge, in one 
tumultuous and eager throng. 

^' In all the wild haste of a disorderly rout, Copts and Rus- 
sians, Poles, Armenians, Greeks and Syrians, from all parts of 
Asia, from Europe, from Africa and from far-distant America, 
on they came ; men, women and children, of every age and hue, 
and in every variety of costume ; talking, screaming, shouting, 
in almost every known language under the sun. Mounted as 



240 



THE HOLY LAND. 



variously as those who had preceded them, many of the 
women and children were suspended in baskets or confined in 
cages ; and, with their eyes strained toward the river, heedless 
of all intervening obstacles, they hurried eagerly forward, and 
dismounting in haste, and disrobing with precipitation, rushed 
down the bank and threw themselves into the stream. 

^' They seemed to be absorbed by one impulsive feeling, and 
perfectly regardless of the observations of others. Each one 
plunged himself, or was dipped by another, three times, below 
the surface, in honor of the Trinity ; and then filled a bottle, 
or some other utensil, from the river. The bathing-dress of 
many of the |)ilgrims was a white gown with a black cross 
upon it. Most of them, as soon as they were dressed, cut 
branches of the agnus castus, or willow ; and, dipping them in 
the consecrated stream, bore them away as memorials of their 
visit. 

" In an hour, they began to disappear ; and in less than three 
hours the trodden surface of the lately crowded bank reflected 
no human shadow. The pageant disappeared as rapidly as it 
had approached, and left us once more the silence and the soli- 
tude of the wilderness. It was like a dream. An immense 
crowd of human beings, said to be eight thousand, but I 
thought not so many, had passed and repassed before our tents 
and left not a vestige behind them." 

Such are some of the events that have transpired in this im- 
mediate vicinity. What a history this part of Jordan and its 
plain has ! But alas, how changed from the days of the 
prophets and the Savior, when populous cities, groves of palm, 
and beautiful gardens abounded here, and the valley was filled 
with industry and beauty ! All has become a wilderness, and 
solitude and desolation hold undisputed reign. The curious 
traveler comes and goes, and the lawless Bedawin seeks his 
plunder undisturbed, but Jordan has a name prominent among 
the rivers of the earth, and the events that have immortalized 
it will never fade from the page of history. When will the 
desolating curse that now rests upon it be removed, and the 
voice of civilization, and the hum of industry again be heard 
along its banks ? Here is room and means of support for a 



THE DEAD SEA. 



241 



numerous population. "This river," says Thompson, ''winds 
incessantly, falls every where rapidly, and has about thirty dis- 
tinct cascades. Here is unappropriated water power to drive 
any amount of machinery, and elevation sufficient to allow 
every part of this valley to be irrigated at all times of the 
year. Thus treated, and subjected to the science and the 
modern mechanical appliances of agriculture, the valley of the 
Jordan could sustain half a million of inhabitants." 

RIDE TO THE DEAD SEA. 

Again we were upon our horses, under a full gallop across 
the plain toward the Dead Sea. As the Jordan approaches the 
sea, the river widens and the banks are low and marshy. A 
short distance from the sea. Lynch found it forty yards wide 
and twelve feet deep ; then fifty yards wide and eleven feet 
deep; then eighty yards wide and seven feet deep, and finally, 
one hundred yards wide and three feet deep upon the bar. 
" Thus," says one, " this sweet type of life subsides into the Sea 
of Death." The marshy nature of the ground would not allow 
us to follow the course of the river, so we struck ofl' in a south- 
westerly direction. 

This sea has ever been considered a wonderful and mysteri- 
ous place. As a natural phenomenon it has no equal upon the 
face of the globe, while in the moral associations connected 
with it, it is a miracle full of profound and awful significancy. 
As we rode on, the fertility of the plain gradually diminished, 
and at last almost every appearance of vegetable life disap- 
peared. The whole scenery of the place wore a strange, 
solemn and impressive aspect. As the visitor approaches the 
place, if all knowledge of his locality and its previous history 
could be obliterated, he would still instinctively feel that he 
was in close proximity to the theatre of some appalling or por- 
tentous event. All around him is a sterile desert of sand, and 
beneath his feet the salty incrustations crackle and break at 
every step. No signs of human habitation — no sound of human 
voice — no song of bird — no footfall of beast — no hum of 
insect — a silence, profound and awful as the chamber of death, 
is there ! On one side rise up the lofty mountains of Moab, 



242 



THE HOLY LAJ^D. 



with all their dread associations of robbery and blood; on the 
other, the rugged bluffs of Engedi, presenting to the eye no 
sign of vegetation, their jagged peaks and yawning caverns 
all conspiring to deepen the solemnity and awfulness of the 
scene. The traveler in this strange place, looks about him with 
something of the nervous hesitation and trembling the timid 
boy in the evening would look into a tomb. Such is the ap- 
proach to these mysterious waters of death. 

THE SEA AND ITS PECULIARITIES. 

This sea, as we have before said, lies in a deep basin, one 
thousand three hundred and twelve feet below the level of the 
^Mediterranean ; the most depressed sheet of water known. 
Here it lies in this deep caldron, surrounded by tall, ragged 
cliffs, its bosom exposed to the burning rays of a cloudless sun, 
encompassed by sterility and deathlike solitude. It is known 
in the books by different names, Dead Sea — Lake Asphaltites — 
Salt Sea — Sea of Sodom — Sea of the Plain — Eastern Sea, and 
is sometimes called by the Arabs Lot's Lake, but by whatever 
name known, it is the same stern, solemn emblem of death. 
The first account we have of this portion of the country, is in 
the thirteenth chapter of Genesis, in connection with the con- 
troversy that arose between the herdsmen of Lot and Abra- 
ham, about 1900 B. C. They were feeding their fiocks about the 
rich pasture grounds of Bethel, when dissensions arose among 
them. A separation became necessary, and the magnanimous 
Abraham gave his nephew the first choice : " And Lot lifted up 
his eyes, and beheld all the plain of the Jordan, that it was 
well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom 
and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land 
of Egypt as thou comest unto Zoar." In the cities of the plain, 
where now these dark waters roll. Lot chose his inheritance, 
and found rich pasturage for his flocks. 

Then follows the account of a battle — the first battle the 
pages of history record. Five kings of this plain of Sodom 
had for twelve years paid tribute to a distant and powerful 
prince. Tired of this tribute, they rebelled. Then came 
Chedorlaomer, king of Elam ; Amraphel, king of Shinar ; 



THE DEAD SEA. 



243 



Arioch, king of Ellasar, and Tidal, king of nations, to reduce 
these rebellions provinces to submission. The kings of Sodom, 
Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim and Zoar, went out to meet them — 
four kings against five. The ground chosen for this battle was 
the vale of SiMim, full of slime ints. This accidental mention 
of these slime pits, or bituminous springs, gives us some 
knowledge of the character of the country and of the agencies 
already existing here that afterwards became instrumentalities 
in the hand of the Almighty for its fearful overthrow. The 
fortunes of the battle we need not follow — the five kings were 
defeated ; Lot, his family and fiocks, carried away captive by 
the conquering kings, and subsequently delivered by Abraham. 
T7e have made this allusion to the early history of the plain to 
show what it once was, and that this sea was a subsequent 
creation. 

WHEN AND HOW IT WAS rORMED. 

The impressive and graphic description of this is likewise 
given by the sacred historian, and is so familiar, it need not be 
repeated here. The depths of depravity into which the cities 
of the plain had fallen, provoked the displeasure, and drew 
down the terrible judgments of the Almighty. We have stood 
npon the plain of Mamre, where the angels talked with Abra- 
ham, and God revealed his fearful purpose of destruction. 
We have seen how terribly those purposes were executed : 
"And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone 
and fire from the Lord out of Heaven. And he overthrew 
those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the 
cities, and that ichich greio iqwn the ground,'' "What language 
could be more accurate? Look upon this parched and verdure- 
less plain of sand, those bleak and naked hills 1 "And Abra- 
ham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood 
before the Lord. And he looked toward Sodom and Gomor- 
rah, and toward all the land of the plain, and lo ! the smoke 
of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.'^ Gen. xix. 

It is but a few years since we had any accurate information 
of this remarkable body of water. Our knowledge of it was 
derived mostly from the ignorant and superstitious people who 



244 



THE HOLY LAND. 



inhabited the country about it. Having some traditions of 
the terrible convulsions that had taken place here, and of the 
fearful doom that had been visited upon the cities that once 
occupied its site, their imaginations had invested it with char- 
acteristics awful and supernatural. In addition to the fact that 
its waters would not sustain animal life, it was said they were 
so dense the winds would not move them, that they were 
thick and clammy^ and corroded and blistered the skin where- 
ever they touched it — that no boat could navigate the sea ; that a 
poisonous exhalation continually arose from it, so that no bird 
could fly over it without being suffocated, and many other 
marvelous and fantastic things. The mystery of some of 
these strange stories had been increased from the fact that two 
travelers, Costigan, a young Irishman, and afterwards Moly- 
neaux, an Englishman, had both perished in their attempts to 
explore these waters. 

The first successful attempt at a thorough exploration of this 
remarkable sea, was made by an expedition sent out by the 
United States government in 1848, under the charge of Lieu- 
tenant Lynch. April 8th, with a crew of ten men — all native 
born Americans, and all pledged to total abstinence from in- 
toxicating liquors, he launched two boats of copper, and one 
of galvanized iron, which they had conveyed across the country 
from the Mediterranean, upon the Sea of Galilee, proceeded 
down the Jordan, making a thorough exploration of all its 
cataracts and windings. They then traversed these waters in 
every direction, taking soundings, mapping the whole sea shore 
and surrounding mountains. He entered the Jordan from the 
Sea of Gralilee, April 10th, reached the Dead Sea April 19th, 
and spent twenty-one nights on its shores. 

As a result of these explorations, it was ascertained that the 
sea is forty-two miles long, and in the widest place, about nine 
miles broad. About two-thirds of the distance from the head 
of the lake is a broad low promontory, with a long cape or 
peninsula, called by the Arabs "the tongue," cutting the sea 
nearly in two. Above this the waters are very deep, in one 
place 1,300 feet; below this they are quite shallow. J^o animal 
life is found in its waters, but Lynch frequently met with ani- 



VISIT TO THE DEAD SEA. 



245 



mals about the shore, generally in the vicinity of the fresh 
water streams that empty into it, among which are mentioned 
doves, hawks, partridges and hares; and what is singular, 
the birds, insects and other animals, are all of a light stone 
color, the same as the materials of the shore and mountains. 
I noticed this same thing in the Sinai desert among the few 
birds and insects I saw there. Ducks are occasionally seen 
swimming upon the water. 'No poisonous exhalations arise 
from it, but bits of sulphnr are sometimes met with upon the 
shore, and sulphurous exhalations in some places arise from 
the ground. At the mouth of one of the valleys on the west 
side are the celebrated warm springs, to which Herod the great 
went, in the vain hope of being cured of his loathsome disease. 
Here, between lofty perpendicular cliffs of red sandstone, a 
copious stream of warm, sweet water flows into the lake. 
Where the fresh water streams flow in from the mountains, the 
willow, tamarisk, oleander, and various shrubs are found, and 
the song of birds may be heard, but over all the rest of the 
banks and the shores, sterility and death-like solitude abound. 
The scenery is magnificently wild, stern and impressive. At 
the southeastern portion of the sea, the original name Sodom, 
seems to be retained, applied to a portion of the country and 
the salt mountains — Oosdom, sometimes written Usdom. Here 
there is an immense ridge of salt, five miles long, and from one 
hundred to one hundred and fifty feet high. In connection 
with these saline hills, is found 

THE CELEBRATED PILLAR OF SALT, 

With which the story of the strange fate of Lot's wife has 
been connected. Josephus tells us that the pillar of salt into 
which she was changed existed in his day, and he had seen it. 
Other early travelers have spoken of this remarkable monu- 
ment as still being in existence here, and various marvelous 
and superstitious stories were told in connexion with it. 
Lynch's account of it is as follows: "Approaching the salt 
mountain, we saw, to our astonishment, on the eastern side of 
Usdom, a lofty, round pillar, standing apparently detached 
from the general mass [of salt] at the head of a deep, narrow 



246 



THE HOLY LAND. 



and abrupt chasm. "We found the pillar to be of solid salt, 
capped with carbonate of lime, cylindrical in front and pyra- 
midal behind. The upper, or rounded part, is about forty feet 
high, resting on a kind of oval pedestal, from forty to sixty 
feet above the level of the sea. It slightly decreases in size 
upwards, crumbles at the top, and is one entire mass of crystal- 
ization. A prop or buttress connects it with the mountain 
behind, and the whole is covered with debris of a light stone 
color. Its peculiar shape is doubtless attributable to the action 
of the winter winds." This singular column is undoubtedly 
the result of natural causes, and yet it is not strange that it 
should become blended in the minds of the inhabitants of the 
land with the story of Lot's wife. 

It is this salt formation, about the lower part of the sea, that 
imparts its intense saline properties to the waters ; probably 
the depths of the sea also abound in salt pits and springs. 
The Jordan, with its vast floods; the Arnon, Cherith and other 
mountain streams, have been for near four thousand years 
pouring into it their supplies of fresh, sweet waters, but they 
produce no change. Some idea of this intense saltness may be 
formed from the fact that while common sea water has only 
four per cent, of salt. Dead Sea water has twenty-six. The 
water also contains other chemical properties, rendering it 
intensely bitter and pungent, making it one of the most dis- 
gusting and nauseous compounds imaginable. A single drop 
of it can scarcely be endured upon the tongue. The salt 
obtained by the evaporation of the water is too bitter for use, 
and is given by the Arabs to their sheep for medicine. It is 
said, however, they have a process of purifying it so as to make 
it palatable. The specific gravity of the water is about 1,200, 
distilled water being 1,000. The following analysis may be 
taken as about an average of the results of several analyses of 
its waters, showing the proportion of salt to the one hundred : 

Muriate of Lime 3,920 grains. 

Muriate of Magnesia 10,246 " 

Muriate of Soda 10,360 " 

Sulphate of Lime 0.054 

Large lumps of bitumen or asphaltum are found along the 



BUILDING A COLLEGE. 



247 



shore, and during the earthquakes that have taken place here 
in modern times, large quantities of this substance have been 
thrown up from the waters of the sea. This substance hardens 
into lumps, and is known under the name of Jews pitch, 
Moses stone, or Dead Sea stone. It partially ignites in the fire, 
and emits a sulphurous smell. Quite large quantities of it are 
taken to Jerusalem and manufactured into cups, bowls, snuff- 
boxes, rosaries, crucifixes and the like, and bought up by visit- 
ors, to take home with them. The sea, having no known out- 
let, the influx of the waters of the Jordan and other streams, 
during the rainy seasons of the year, increases the depth of the 
water from ten to fifteen feet. This is thrown off again by 
evaporation during the heat of the summer, and it is this 
rapid evaporation of the water that produces the constant hazy 
state of the atmosphere, much like the Indian summer of our 
western prairies, that all travelers notice, adding greatly to the 
appearance of solitude and gloom that enshrouds the place. 
In addition to the intense heat of the sun pouring into this 
deep caldron-like basin, the neighborhood of the sea is occa- 
sionally visited by the scorching sirocco of the southern deserts. 
These fiery winds Lynch's men found it almost impossible to 
endure, their face and hands were blistered, the sands on the 
shore become so burning hot they could not stand upon them, 
and every metalic object scorched the hand that came in con- 
tact with it. The thermometer stood at 98° at midnight, and 
the men were sometimes compelled to wrap themselves head 
and body in a blanket and throw themselves upon the ground. 

A BATH IN THE DEAD SEA. 

Such are some of the characteristics cf this wonderful body 
of waters over which there hangs the everlasting shroud of its 
own changing vapors. Let us approach the shore, and come in 
closer contact with it. I found it quite different from what I 
expected. My imagination had not only wrapt the sea in 
gloom, but invested its shores with swampy morasses, and its 
waters with a dark, turbid aspect, and overspread them with 
slime and pitch. What was my surprise to find a clear trans- 
parent water, of a deep green hue, lying calm and tranquil in 



248 



THE HOLY LA^D 



the sunlight, and bounded by a clean, handsome, pebbly shore I 
Lynch tells ns. he found near the southern end. in some places. 

a dark scum on the vraters and a marshy shore, but here there 
Tvas nothing oi the kind. It was a clear, calm day. and the 
water lay in tranquil beauty, like an immense mirror, tossing 
the sunbeams from its bosom. It vras a strange contrast with 
the surrounding scenery, and only served to render its immense 
frame-work of craggs and clins far more magnincently wild 
and majestic. 

TThat traveler; after so long and toilsome a joui-ney. would 
miss the opportunity of a bath in these strange waters ! A few 
minutes, and our whole party. I believe, vrithout a single excep- 
tion, were floating about like so many corks. The density of 
this sea is greater than that of any other known body of water. 
I tried several experiments to test this peculiar property of the 
water ; by keeping the feet under me with only motion enough 
to keep the body in a perpendicular position. I could float with 
my head and shoulders to the arm-pits above the water. Ly- 
ing at length upon the water. I could not float, for the density 
of the water was such that the feet wo'ild be thrown upward, so 
as to submerge the head; but when I turned upon my back, 
elevated the head, and drew up the knees so as to balance the 
body on the water. I could lie with head, arms and knees above 
the water and float like a piece of wood,, as long as I kept my- 
self in that position. The experiment has been tried of swim- 
mins; a horse in the water, when it was found the buoyancy of 
the water was such as to render it impossible for the animal to 
keep his feet under him : in his terror, he could only flounder 
about upon his side. 

I went into the sea with great hesitation and dread from the 
stories I had read of its corrosive properties, and the clammy 
prickling sensation it produces. I am inclined to think travel- 
ers have very much exaggerated this efiect of the sea. If such 
smarting sensations have been produced it must be in conse- 
quence of the skin's having been previously fretted by riding 
or irritated by the heat : in such cases, this water would produce 
the same efr'ect of any other salt water applied to the raw flesh. 
All the effect I perceived, on emerging from the water, vas a 



THE DEAD SEA. 



249 



slight greasy feeling of the surface of the body. I wet the end 
of a towel in some fresh water I had with me for drink, rubbed 
myself with it, and felt no more inconvenience of any kind. 
Lynch did not find any such irritating quality in the water, un- 
less from long exposure to it. In bathing, it is best to avoid 
getting the water into the hair ; and no one who has tasted a 
drop of it, need be admonished not to get it into his mouth. 
Wherever it touches the clothes, a white spot is produced from 
the salt left in the evaporation. 

And now, we have seen the sea, bathed in its waters, recalled 
its strange history, examined some of its wonders, and looked 
upon the solemn scenery that gives sublimity, grandeur and 
awfulness to the place. Shall we go ? Wait. Cast your eye 
on those scathed and blasted hills, over these burning verdure- 
less plains. Are there any lessons to be read there? Look 
away down into the profound depths of those transparent 
waters! Do you see any thing? Hark ! Are there any mur- 
muring voices whispering in solemn accents in your ear? Ah, 
in the solemn hush of the deepest silence that broods over this 
sea of death, the very solemnity is instructive ; and when the 
tempest comes howling from those mountain crags, waking the 
deafening echoes of their yawning 'chasms, lashing into tem- 
pest these dark and leaden waters, above the mingled roar of 
the deafening storm, and the dashing of the angry waves on 
the foetid shores, may be heard the sepulchral voices that come 
up from the entombed cities of forty centuries, speaking of the 
time when 

" The cup of guilt was full up to the brim 
And Mercy weary with beseeching, had 
Ketired behind the sword of Justice, red 
With ultimate and unrepenting wrath." 

Lieutenant Lynch, after the ample facihties afforded him, 
after having made a most thorough exploration of this sea in 
all its parts, and all its surroundings, says: "The inference 
from the Bible that this entire chasm was a plain sunk and 
^overivhehned' hj the wrath of God, seems to be sustained by 
the extraordinary character of our soundings." He records 
15 



250 



THE HOLY LAND. 



his impression that the mountains are older than the sea — " the 
sea loas a subsequent formation. "^^ In conclusion he gives the im- 
pressions made upon his own mind, and upon the minds of his 
men ; and it is the more impressive, as coming from one who 
went out sioiply as a scientific man to make an exploration in 
behalf of his government for scientific purposes : 

" Upon ourselves the result is a decided one. We entered 
upon this sea with conflicting opinions. One of the party was 
skeptical, and another, I think, a professed unbeliever of the 
Mosaic account. After twenty -two days of close investigation, 
if I am not mistaken, we are unanimous in the conviction of the 
truth of the Scriptural account of the destruction of the cities of the 
flain. I record, with diffidence, the conclusions we have 
reached, simply as a protest against the shallow deductions of 
would-be unbelievers." 

The story in Genesis is a strange one ; we need strong evi- 
dence to give us faith in the wonderful narration. Aside from 
the evidences that conspire to establish the Book of Revelation 
as a whole — and if we take the whole we must take its parts — 
how much evidence is here seen to confirm the special narration 
that records the overthrow and overflow of the cities of the 
plain. Is any thing too hard for the Lord ? Is not his quiver 
full of arrows, and can he not direct them with unerring skill 
and certainty, and with the awful energy of Omnipotence ? E'o 
doubt but God here made use of natural agencies for the exe- 
cution of his stern and fearful judgments ; but the execution 
was none the less terrible, and none the less an act of direct 
and Almighty power on that account. The overthrow was ac- 
companied by exhibitions of the most awful and terrific kind. 
The, vale was full of bituminous pits. These inflammable sub- 
stances were kindled, and fire broke forth from the ground. By 
the power of volcanic action they were ejected into the air, and 
came raining down from the uplifted and quaking hills. Here 
Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim met their astounding 
and deserved overthrow! It was an utter and irreparable ruin. 
jSTo one can stand here and look on this impressive scenery, and 
not feel the conviction that this sea is a creation of the wrath 
of God. The hand of the Almighty has been here, and he has 



SEA OF SODOM. 



251 



left Ms imprint on this barren plain, these scorched and black- 
ened hills, these sulphurous shores, these salt and bitter waters 
of death. This dark and mysterious sea, and these gloomy 
hills are monuments placed here by the Almighty, upon which 
all succeeding generations may read, traced as with letters of 
fire, the Handwriting of his judgments, the certainty of his 
displeasure against sin. Jude tells us, in the book of God, that 
these buried cities "giving themselves over to fornication, and 
going after strange flesh, are set forth an example suffering the 
vengeance of eternal fire." God created a beautiful Eden, and 
man rejected it. That Eden the joyous type of innocence has 
faded from the earth ; sin reigns, and here the symbol of its 
punishment remains, a type of the retributive justice of God! 



252 



THE HOLY LAND. 



CHAPTER IX. 
Return from the Dead Sea — Leavinq Jerusalem — Tour 

i^'ORTHWARD. 

We spread our clotli upon the shore of the sea, arranged our 
lunch, and amid the solitude and gloom of the place, took our 
frugal meal of cold chicken and brown bread. Here our com- 
pany separated, a part to visit the convent of Mar Saba, and 
from thence to return to Jerusalem by way of Bethlehem, a 
part to return direct to the city. The Convent of Mar Saba is 
situated among the wild, rocky ravines of the wilderness of Ju- 
dea, and is said to be one of the most extraordinary buildings 
in Palestine, built upon the sides of precipitous rocks, and partly 
excavated within them. For ourselves having visited Bethle- 
hem, and had quite an experience in convent life, we preferred 
taking the shortest passage home. A couple of hours' ride 
across the plain, brought us to our tents at Jericho, which we 
found doubly stocked with fleas, the lounging, filthy villagers 
having taking advantage of our abscene to rest in the shade, 
and sleep upon our mats. 

"We spent the evening hours wandering about the site of old 
Jericho, meditating at the base of Quarantania, and watching 
the fading sunhght as his parting rays died away on the oppo- 
site mountains of Moab — ISTebo, Pisgah, Peor and Abarim. 
Here I was in the very midst of the scenery of one of our most 
beautiful hymns, and with what force the words were brought 
home to me : 

" Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood, 
Stand dressed in living green ; 
So to the Jews fair Canaan stood, 
While Jordan rolled between. 



FEUIT OF THE VALLEY. 



255 



Could I but climb where Moses stood, 

And view the landscape o'er — 
Not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood, 

Should fright me from the shore." 

As the dusk of evening crept over the land, v^e repaired to 
the brook Cherith for a bath; thus we had enjoyed a bath in 
the Jordan in the morning, in the Dead Sea at noon, and in the 
waters of this renowned stream at night. 

APPLES OP SODOM. 

We were anxious to see some of the celebrated apples of 
Sodom ; but it was either not the season for them or there were 
none in this vicinity ; we inquired among the Arabs for them, 
but none of them could show us any. The first mention of 
these is said to be by Josephus ; he says they have a color as if 
fit to be eaten, but if you pluck them with your hands they dis- 
solve into smoke and ashes. Tacitus in speaking of the vicini- 
ty of this sea sa^^s : " The herbage may spring up, and the 
trees may put forth their blossoms, they may even attain the 
usual appearance of maturity, but with this flower outside, all 
within turns black and molders into dust." I find a great va- 
riety of opinion among difierent writers, who have visited here, 
in reference to this fruit. Lynch gathered and preserved some 
of the fruit of the osher, which he says was fair to the eye, and 
bitter to the taste, and when ripe, filled with fibre and dust. 
These specimens he brought home, and deposited in the patent 
office at Washington, as the genuine apples of Sodom. Some 
writers have treated the whole account of them as fabulous, 
among whom are Pocoke and Shaw. De Chartres was here as 
early as the year 1100, and makes mention of this fruit, and 
compares its deceitful appearance to the pleasures of the world. 
Others have made mention of the fruit, but have ascribed its 
production to difierent species of plants. From all accounts I 
can gather of this fruit, it seems to be much like the '•'■oak 
balls,'' or ^'oak apples,'' sometimes called — of our own forests. 
These are produced by the puncture of an insect upon the 
young tender leaves in the spring. I used to gather them by 
the hatfull in my school-boy days ; they grew, many of them, 



256 



THE HOLY LAITD. 



as large as a medium-sized apple, very fair and handsome to 
the sight, but containing nothing but a little fibrous matter 
with a worm in the center, and when left till they were dry 
they contained nothing but a little dust. I apprehend these 
apples of Sodom are a similar product, and if so, they may be 
found on different varieties of trees, which may account for the 
discrepant account travelers have given of their origin. 

A SUPPOSED ROBBER AND A ERIGHT. 

Amid Bedawin, dogs, thieves and fleas, our slumbers on retir- 
ing for the night were not likely to be of the profouudest kind. 
The robbery of one of our tents the night before was calculated 
to awaken suspicion, and put us on our guard. A little past 
midnight a slight rustle in the tent awakened me, and I was 
conscious some one was stealthily crawling about. I called out, 
"What's wanted?" '^Moiya" — the Arabic for water was the 
answer. Receiving an answer in Arabic, I supposed, of course, 
an Arab had crept into our tent, and now under pretence of 
wanting water was trying to excuse his presence. I started up 
on hands and kness, and fiercely ordered him out of the tent. 
In the dim starlight I could just discern him as, also on all- 
fours, he turned round and facing me only two or three feet 
distant, commenced jabbering in an unintelligible jargon. I 
was too much frightened to reason, and knowing my compan- 
ion had his revolver under his pillow, I commenced shouting, 
Baker, Baker, a robber ! shoot him ! shoot him ! The more I 
shouted the more earnest the intruder became, until my com- 
panion, who was more of a linguist than myself, was suffi- 
ciently aroused to take part in the scene. He found myself and 
one of our German companions both on our hands and knees, 
our heads within five feet of each other, myself shouting in En- 
glish to have him murdered, and he jabbering away in German, 
trying to explain to me his presence in our tent, while I, too 
much excited to distinguish German from Arabic, supposed I 
was facing a Bedawin robber. Wanting a pitcher of water 
that stood in our tent, and not wishing to disturb us, supposing 
we were asleep, he had thus stealthily crawled in to get it. 
His first answering me in Arabic was what had misled me. 



KETUKN TO JEEUSALEM. 



257 



When we came to understand it, the scene was so ludicrous it 
ended in a hearty laugh, though but for the timely explanation 
it might have ended in a tragedy. 

"With the fright and the fleas, there was no more chance for 
sleep. The moon was soon above the horizon, and we struck 
our tents and packed our mules by her light, and before the 
first rays of the morning sun had touched the tall, white cliffs 
of Quarantania, we were moving across the plain. "We now 
realized the accuracy of the Scripture language, where speak- 
of Jesus in his journey from this place it says: ^'He went be- 
fore ascending up to Jerusalem^^ for we had now an ascent of 
about three thousand five hundred feet to make to reach the 
city. At last, the toilsome labor was accomplished; about 3 
o'clock in the afternoon we wound around the southwestern 
slope of Olivet. Jerusalem burst upon our view, and we saw it 
again from the very spot from which Jesus looked when he 
wept over it. Jehoshaphat and the Kidron were passed, we 
bowed to the guard at the gate of St. Stephen, and our excur- 
sion was ended. 

ARRANGEMENTS TO LEAVE JERUSALEM. 

We had spent a month in the Holy City, and the time was 
now approaching that we must leave its interesting scenes. A 
company of six clergymen, three from Scotland, and three from 
England, joined us, making a party of nine, and we were to 
make the tour of northern Palestine together. The first thing 
was to secure a dragoman. Several offered their services, but 
we thought their terms too high — though the expense of travel 
through this land for the last few years has considerably in- 
creased. Parties of two or three are compelled to pa}^ a good 
dragoman as high as seven or eight dollars a day. The more 
there are in the party, the less per person the contractor can 
afford to take them for. We ascertained first from resident 
Americans what would be a fair compensation, and that we 
were willing to give. At last, we selected our man, an active, 
intelligent Jew, a native of the city, and who had been for a 
number of years, engaged in the business. Meeting at the 



258 



THE HOLY LAND. 



office of the British Consul, we entered into the following 
contract : 

"Tliis agreement made this Qth. day of April, A. D. 1S61, between E. P. Baker, 
A. C. Herrick, D. A. Randall, J. "W. Coombs, Artbnr Hall. Brjan Dale, George 
Sandie, Greorge !McCorkindale and James McGrregor of tlie first part, and Abraham 
Mordeica of tlie second part, Witnesseth : 

1. That tlie said Abraham Mordeica agrees to convey the parties of the first part 
from Jerusalem to Beirut by the -way of Samaria, Nazareth, Tiberias, Mount Car- 
mel, Tyre and Sidon; the journey to commence on Monday, April 15, 1861, and 
to occupy not less than twelve nor more than thirteen days. 

2. The parties of the first part shall have the privilege of directing the details 
of said journey; deciding what places on said general route they will visit, and 
how long they will remain at each; but no variations or stoppages shall be made 
that will protract said journey beyond the thirteen days ; and if the party choose 
to remain encamped and rest from travel on Sunday, they shall have the privilege 
of doing so. 

3. The said Abraham Mordeica agrees to furnish the aforesaid party good riding 
horses, and all necessary pack-horses or mules for the conveyance of their bag- 
gage, and all needed assistance and protection for the security of their persons, 
and the safe dehvery of their x^roperty in Beirut; and should any of the horses by 
accident or fatigue become disabled, others shall be furnished in their place. 

4. The said Abraham Mordeica shall furnish good tents, iron bedsteads, clean 
beds and bedding. He shall also furnish a good and substantial breakfast of omu- 
let or cooked eggs, one dish of meat with vegetables, and tea, cofi"ee, etc. At 
noon a cold lunch of chicken or other meat, eggs, bread, cheese, fruit, etc. A 
good dinner shall be furnished on encamping for the night of soup, two courses of 
meat, bread, vegetables, coffee, rice, fruit, etc. The provision and all the supplies 
to be of such quality, quantity and variety as is customary in such traveling ex- 
cursions. 

5. The said Abraham Mordeica shall pay all the expenses of said journey to 
Beirut, except such backsheesh as may be required of the parties of the first part, 
in visiting such places as they may think best, and he shall perform all the duties 
a dragoman is accustomed to x^erform on such journeys. 

6. The said Abraham Mordeica shall receive from each of the above named par- 
ties of the first part, one pound sterling per day for each day of said journey ; six 
pounds sterling to be paid by each person on the signing of this contract, one 
pound sterling from each one at such time on the journey as the said Abraham 
may wish, and the balance on arrival in Beirut, and the said sum of one pound 
sterling per day from each one is all the said Abraham shall be entitled to receive 
for any expenses he may incur in the performance of this contract in going to 
Beirut, and his return shall be at his own expense. 

7. Any difference of opinion that may arise in regard to the meaning or fulfill- 
ment of this contract shall be settled at the office of the British Consul in Beirut, 
and his decision shall be final in the matter. 

[Signed by the parties.] 



VISIT TO THE SUPEKIOR. 



259 



Both, parties appeared in Her Britanic Majesty's Consulate of Jerusalem, and 
agreed to the ahove in my presence. 

[l. s.] Peter MEsnuLLAii, Cancelliere. 

Jeeusalem, April 10th, 1S61. 

VISIT TO THE SUPERIOR OF THE CONVENT. 

Saturday, April 13. W^e had not yet seen the Head of the 
Convent, and we made arrangements with the monk, Stafford, 
to accompany and introduce us during the afternoon, ^^e 
found him in his room in the convent building. He received 
us pleasantly and cordially. Xot understanding his language, 
(Italian) and having no good interpreter, we could hold but lit- 
tle conversation with him, but on parting we put into his hand 
the following note : 

Casa Nuova, April 13, 1861. 

To THE Father Supeeior of the Context : 

We came into the Holy City strangers and foreigners. TVe came as Christians 
on a journey of near seven thousand miles, to visit the holy places -vrhere Patri- 
archs, Prophets and Apostles traveled, toiled, suffered and ^ere entombed ; and, 
more than aU, where the blessed Savior was bom, cradled, labored, wept, agonized, 
died, was buried, rose again, and ascended in triumph to heaven. We were re- 
ceived into your hospitable home, we have been kindly treated, and many facili- 
ties have been afforded us in visiting those sacred places, towards which, every 
Christian heart turns with fondest affection. TTe expect to leave on Monday 
morning. Please accept our thanks for all your kindness and hospitality. We 
shall, in our distant homes, cherish, a grateful remembrance of the kind attentions 
we have received, and our affections will hereafter cluster more closely around the 
cross of the blessed Savior as th.e result of this pilgrimage to the Holy Land and 
the City of the Great King. 

We cheerfully tender the accompanying donation, which please accept in part 
compensation for the trouble and expense we have occasioned you. With our best 
wishes for your welfare — farewell. Yours truly, &c. 

LAST MORNING IN JERUSALEM. 

A'pril 15. In the distribution of backsheesh we did not for- 
get Joseph the butler and cook, nor the old door-keeper, who 
was ever ready to serve us. In return, as a parting memento, 
he gave each, of us a rosary made from the stones of the olives 
that grew on the old trees in the Garden of Gethsemane, gath- 
ered and strung, as I understood, by his own hand. Their be- 
ing done up in the form of a rosary added nothing to their 
value, in our estimation, but the locality from which they came, 



260 



THE HOLY LAND. 



and the apparent good will witli which they were bestowed 
upon ns, made them a precious souvenir. The Father Supe- 
rior also sent each of us the following printed certificate, which 
we brought away with us, and which I here insert as a matter 
of curiosity, not expecting, however, a diploma from such a 
source will add any thing to our standing among our protestant 
friends. We give the original and a translation : 



Omnibus, et singulis prsesentes litteras inspecturis, lecturis, vel legi audituris 
fidem, notumque facimus, Nos Terrse Sanctse Gustos Domino David Austin Randall, 
Americanum, Jerusalem feliciter pervenisse die 21st mensis Martii, 1861, inde 
subsequentibus diebus prgecipua Sanctuaria, in quibus Mundi Salvator dilectum 
populum suum, imo et totius bumani generis perditam congeriem ab inferi servi- 
tute misericorditer liberavit, utpote Calvarium, ubi Cruci aflixus, dcvicta morte, 
Cceli januas nobis aperuit ; SS. Sepulcbrum, ubi Sacrosanctum ejus corpus recon- 
ditum, triduo ante suam gloriosissimam Resurrectionem quievit, ac tandem ea 
omnia Sacra Palestinse Loca gressibus Domini, ac Beatissimae ejus Matris Marise 
consecrata, a Religiosis nostris, et Peregrinis visitari solita, visitasse. In quorum 
fidem has scripturas ofBcii nostri sigillo munitas per Secretarium expediri manda- 
vimus. 

Datis apud S. Civitatem Jerusalem ex Venerabili nostro Conventu SS. Salva- 
toris, die 15 mensis Aprilis, anno D. 1861. 



To all and each, who shall inspect, read, or hear these writings read : We, the 
guardian of the Holy Land, give assurance and proof, that Rev. David Austin 
Randall, an American, happily arrived at Jerusalem on the 21st day of the month 
of March, 1861 ; then on subsequent days, visited the principal sacred places, in 
which the Savior of the world, mercifully delivered his beloved people, yea, and 
the lost mass of the whole human race, from the lowest bondage ; viz : Calvary, 
where fastened to the cross, with death vanquished, he opened to us the doors 
of heayen ; the Holy Sepulchre, where his most holy body having been laid, rested 
three days before his most glorious resurrection ; and finally, all those sacred pla- 
ces of Palestine, consecrated by the footsteps of the Lord and his most blessed 
mother, Mary, accustomed to be visited by the pious, and by strangers. In assur- 
ance of which, we have caused this writing, confirmed by the seal of our oflBce, to 
be prepared by the Secretary. 

Given at the holy city of Jerusalem from our venerable Convent of Saint Salva- 
tor, on the 15th of the month April, A. D. 1861. 



IN DEI NOMINE AMEN. 




De Mandato Reverndiss. in Christo PaLris. 
Fk. Clemens A. Solerio, 

Terrse Sanctse Secretarius. 



IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. 




By command of the most Reverend Father in Christ. 
Clemens A. Solerio, 

Secretary of the Holy Land. 



LEAYI^TG JEKUSALEM. 



261 



Quite a heavy «hower of rain fell this morning, accompanied 
by lightning and heavy thunder. This is just about the clos- 
ing up of the "latter rains;" after a few days they expect no 
more rain till the latter part of September or October. It was my 
last morning in Jerusalem. I rose early, and taking my Bible, 
like Peter of old I went upon the house top to read, meditate, 
and pray. What a place for devotion ! I was often there 
during my stay in the convent. It was an elevated position, 
and I had a fine view of the country about. To the east of 
me was Olivet, the Mount of Ascension, its summit just bathed 
in the golden light of the rising sun ; at its base, and now 
^buried in its deep shadow, lay Gethsemane, reviving afresh 
a thousand recollections, while nearer still towered up the 
majestic dome that sheltered Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre. 
From the Bible I read again the story of the agony, the betrayal 
and the crucifixion. My soul was wafted upward on wings of 
faith and love, and again I communed with God. I rejoiced that 
my eyes had been permitted to look on these places. I regret- 
ted I was now to leave them, and see them no more. This I 
said was Jerusalem; it is such no longer! It has accomplished 
its mission! Jerusalem is on high. From this city I must 
turn away, but toward the real one I hope to be continually 
traveling, till I hail its pearly gates, its golden streets, its 
everlasting light. I could not sing, but there was music in my 
heart, and the soul's devotion found expression in the words of 
a familiar hymn : 

"Jerusalem ? my glorious liome ! 

Name ever dear to me ! 
Wlien sliaH my labors have an end, 

In joy, and peace, and thee? 
! when, thou city of my God, 

Shall I thy courts ascend ? 
Where congregations ne'er break up, 

And sabbaths never end ! ' ' 

By previous agreement, we were to leave the city at 10 
o'clock. On arriving at the place of rendezvous, we found 
that our cook and one of the servants, in passing one of the 
narrow streets with some of our mules and luggage, had got 
into a quarrel with some Turkish muleteers, about the right of 



262 



THE HOLY LAND. 



way, and our cook had been arrested for assault and battery, 
and thrown into prison. Our dragoman spent nearly all the 
morning trying to procure his release, but in vain, and at last 
was forced to employ another man. We had also considerable 
difficulty about our horses ; they had been previously selected 
and shown us, and we had tried and accepted them; but now 
that we were ready to start, we found several of them had been 
changed, and much poorer ones substituted — a common trick 
among these dragomen. 

At last, after many vexatious delays, we made our escape 
from the ragged, loafing crowd of Arabs and beggars that 
always assemble on such occasions, eager to hold your horse, • 
or lift your traveling bag, or adjust your stirrup, or in some 
way, no matter how trivial, lift a hand for you, to open the 
way for an earnest solicitation for a backsheesh ! We left the 
" Traveler's Rest," wheeled into the street of Mount Zion, and 
went clattering along the rude pavement, and emerging from 
the city by the Damascus Gate, took the great northern thor- 
oughfare toward Samaria. 

In ancient times there was no doubt a well graded and finely 
paved road here, and a few traces of it can still occasionally be 
seen, but the ravages of time and war have nearly obliterated 
it. Again we were on the ground where Titus commenced the 
siege that ended in such terrible scenes of massacre and blood. 
We passed the tombs of the judges and of the kings, crossed 
the head of the valley of the Kidron, and ascended the ridge 
of Scopus. This ridge once passed, Jerusalem would be hidden 
from our view forever; for none of us expected to return. 
What multitudes of pilgrims have caught their first view of 
the city from this eminence, and hailed with joy the cheerful 
sight of Zion ! What multitudes, as they have left it, have 
paused here to take the last long, lingering look, and say 
farewell ! We rode to the highest point of the eminence, 
wheeled our horses about, and for a long time gazed in silence, 
each absorbed in deep contemplation. One poet says: 

"It is fine 

To stand upon some lofty mountain thought, 
And feel the spirit stretch into a view." 



PAKE WELL TO JERUSALEM. 263 

Was there ever a spot more elevating, more suggestive, 
fraught with scenes of holier and more stirring interest than 
the one on which we now stood ! From the dark mountains 
of Moab that blended with the distant horizon ; from the 
mysterious depths of that solitary sea, over w^hich they cast 
their shadows; from the long winding vale of the Jordan; 
from the distant hills and valleys of Bethlehem, there seemed 
to come strange voices, whispering of angel's visits ; while 
mingled with the dim mysteries of the past were the visions of 
wonderful scenes, presenting in striking contrast the dark 
clouds of wrath, and the radiant light of mercy. And set in 
this strange and magnificent frame work, every foot of which 
was teeming with history, every valley and hill top of which 
had its lesson, lay the wonderful city — the city with its history 
of four thousand years — the city from which has gone out the 
influence that is ruling the world ! Every dome, minaret and 
spire seemed to talk to us and the mountain hights kindled 
with a fresh inspiration ! Jerusalem, wonderful city ! Thou 
art embalmed in the memory of every Christian ; thou hast a 
home in the affections of every one who is an Israelite indeed ! 
Thy high places have been made radiant with the presence of 
Deity ; through thy streets, prophets, and apostles have walked ! 
Gethsemane, Olivet, thy paths have been hallowed by the foot- 
steps of the incarnate son of God! His tears moistened thy 
soil, and the wail of his anguish mingled with the murmur of 
thy waters, Kidron ! Moriah, thy temple, opened its gates 
to the everlining Shekinah, and thou, O Calvary, didst drink 
his blood ! How can I leave thee, city of the living God ! 
" If I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her 
cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to 
the roof of my mouth 1 " But we could not tarry. Slowly 
and reluctantly we turned away. We descended toward the 
valley, and the long ridge of Scopus lay between us and the 
city. Farewell, we said again, the bright visions of thy hal- 
lowed places will long shed their blessed influence on the soul ! 

NOB AND THE MASSACRE OF THE PRIESTS. 

We were now passing over a diversified country of lofty hills 



264 



THE HOLY LAND. 



and wide-spread vales, the most of wliicb. presents only a 
barren and desolate aspect. The limestone rocks that were 
once laid in handsome terraces and walls, are scattered about 
in wild confusion, giving a ragged and barren appearance to 
the hills, while the miserable cultivation of the valleys, and the 
neglected fig and olive trees, deepen the general impression of 
improvidence and decay. Still the close observer can easily 
detect the traces of what might soon, under the transforming 
hand of industry, make this neglected land what it once was 
when the graphic pen of the sacred historian so aptly described 
it : "a land of vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates ; a land 
of oil olive and honey." 

In our " foot excursions " we have described the prominent 
scriptural sites in this immediate vicinity — Gibeah of Saul, 
Mizpeh, Ai, Michmash, Gibeon, etc. — and need not detain the 
reader with further notices of them. To one place only will 
we call special attention. About three-fourths of an hour's 
ride from Jerusalem, attention is directed to an eminence 
covered with loose stones, the top marked by the ruins of what 
appears to be a very ancient town. Portions of the rock have 
been cut away and leveled, and large cisterns hewn in the rocks 
are still to be seen. This is supposed to be the site of E"ob, 
an ancient city of the Israelitish priests. If so, let let us pause 
here a moment, for it has been the scene of one of the blood- 
iest and most inhuman tragedies that characterized the reign of 
a mad and God-forsaken king. 

Cast your eye along the valley toward yonder hill, the sum- 
mit of which was once crowned by ancient Gibeah, the birth- 
place and home of Saul. From that city Jonathan descended, 
after having ascertained the design of his father to slay David. 
Among the rocks of this valley, along which we have,/ been 
riding, David, by previous concert with Jonathan, had con- 
cealed himself. Jonathan gave him the sign by which he 
understood that his life was sought, and that there was no 
safety but in immediate flight. Here they met, wept, embraced, 
and parted, after having entered into a solemn covenant of 
perpetual friendship, Jonathan returned to yonder Gibeah, 
and David came here to I^ob. By an artfully framed story, he 



MASSACEE OF PRIESTS. 



265 



secured the assistance of Abimelech, the iDriest, who fed him 
with the consecrated bread, and gave him the sword- of Go- 
liath; and he fled to Achish, the king of Gath. The story of 
David's reception at iTob, and his subsequent flight, was made 
known to Saul by Doeg, an Edomite, Saul's chief shepherd; 
and the auger of Saul was kindled against the priests, and 
against the city. In vain was Abimelech's explanation ; in 
vain his asseverations of his innocence, of the purity and loyalty 
of his intentions ; his assertions that he knew nothing of the 
quarrel that had excited the revenge of Saul. Abimelech 
and all his house were doomed by the inexorable king to 
destruction. Eut such was the evident injustice and madness 
of the decree, not a single one of all the servants of Saul, of 
Hebrew blood, would lift a hand to execute the sentence! 
They dare not, and would not, thus slay the priests of the 
Lord. And Saul said to Doeg : " Turn thou, and smite the 
priests." And this Edomite, stranger and spy, was base 
enough to become the king's executioner; seizing the im.ple- 
ment of death, he "slew fourscore and five priests that did 
wear a linen ephod ; " 1 Sam. xxi. In this horrid massacre, 
thif^- whole city was overthrown, and men, women, children and 
sucklings, oxen, asses and sheep, were slain with the sword. 

SITE OF ANCIENT BETHEL. 

About 3 o'clock we stopped to take our lunch, near Beeroth, 
now called Bireh, another of the four cities of the crafty 
Gibeonites. It now contains seven hundred to eight hundred 
Moslem inhabitants, and a few Christian families. Piles of old 
ruins here attract the attention of the traveler, among them a 
fine old gothic church, large portions of the walls of which are 
still standing, another hoary monument of the days of cru- 
saders and knights templars. 

About half-past 4 o'clock we ascended a long low ridge, 
covered with great piles of stone. Here we paused and looked 
eagerly about us — we were standing upon the site of old 
Bethel ! Between three and four acres of ground are covered 
by the ruins. Foundations, fragments of walls, and heaps 
of loose stones, lie in promiscuous heaps around you. On the 



266 



THE HOLY LAND. 



highest point may he seen the remains of an old square tower, 
in another place the ruins of an old Greek church, inclosed 
within the foundations of another and much older edifice. A 
few miserable huts, some fifteen or twenty in number, con- 
structed from the ancient materials, and occupied by ragged, 
miserable looking tenants, constitute the modern village. In 
the valley, a little to the west of the village, is a huge cistern, 
built of massive stones, three hundred and fourteen feet long, 
and two hundred and seventeen feet broad. One side of this 
great reservoir is still entire, the others have been much dilapi- 
dated by the ravages of time. Its bottom is now a beautiful 
grass plat, and near by are two small fountains of pure, clear 
water, from which thib great tank was originally supplied. 
This place is about twelve miles nearly north of Jerusalem, 
and is undoubtedly the Bethel of scripture. 

We may then sit down by these fountains, and with the 
Bible in our hand, that great text book of ancient history, 
recall the interesting incidents that have here transpired. Surely 
this spot is historic ground, and renowned visitants have been 
here ! Originally it was called Luz. Abraham, on his first 
journey through the land, pitched his tent here, and here he 
built an altar, and called on the name of Jehovah. On his 
return from Egypt, he could not forget the rich pasture 
grounds, and the refreshing springs of water that existed here. 
Eich in cattle, in silver and gold, to the altar he had built he 
returned, and here again he called on the name of the Lord. 
Over these broad valleys his flocks roamed ; from these foun- 
tains he watered them, and here the maidens of Sarah came 
to fill their pitchers. Here, in these pasture grounds, com- 
menced the strife between the herdsmen of Abraham and his 
nephew Lot, and here the old patriarch made that magnani- 
mous ofter : " Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me 
and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen ; for 
we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee ? Separate 
thyself, I pray thee, from me ; if thou wilt take the left hand, 
then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, 
then I will go to the left." From this place it w^as. Lot looked 
down upon yonder beautiful plain of the Jordan, beautiful as 



VISIT TO BETHEL. 



267 



the garden of the Lord, and chose him a residence among 
those cities that now lie entombed beneath the bitter waters 
of the Dead Sea. Here too, it was, the Lord appeared to 
Abraham, and made him that memorable promise, that in our 
journeyings we have seen so signally fulfilled to his children : 
" Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou 
art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward, 
for all the land which thou seest to thee will I give it, and to 
thy seed forever." Gen..xiii. 

Time passed on ; Abraham found a resting place in the cave 
of Machpelah, and Isaac saw his sons growing up around him. 
A lone traveler, with his staff in his hand, is seen passing along 
this valley. He has made a long, weary journey of forty miles, 
from Beersheba, and now the shades of night are gathering 
around him. He gathers some stones for his pillow, and with 
the hard earth for his bed, and the broad canopy of the 
heavens for his covering, composes himself to rest. He had a 
long journey of near five hundred miles before him; he was 
in the vigor of life, and though his fare was scanty and his 
pillow hard, he had a stout heart, and was favored with 
pleasant dreams. He saw a ladder set upon the earth, and the 
top of it reached to heaven ; and behold the angels of God 
ascending and descending upon it ! Above that ladder he saw 
the vision of the Holy One, and he heard a voice : " I am the 
Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac ; the 
land whereon thou liest to thee will I give it, and to thy 
seed : " and here the promise was made him that he should be 
kept in all his ways, and brought again in safety to this land. 
He awoke from this strange vision. " Surely," said he, the 
Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. How dreadful is this 
place ! This is none other but the house of God, and the gate 
of heaven." Early in the morning, Jacob rose up, took the 
stone he had put for his pillow, set it up for a memorial and 
dedicated to the Lord. And he called the name of that place 
Beth-el — House of God. 

Years passed away. With flocks and herds, a large family 
of children, and a numerous retinue of servants, Jacob came 
back to the land of promise. Again the Lord appeared to him 



t 



i 

268 THE HOLY LAND. 

and said : " Arise, go up to Betliel, and make there an altar 
unto God." Again Jacob and all his household dwelt upon 
this ground. Again he built an altar here and worshiped 
Grod. And he called the place El-Beth-el — God the House 
of God. Here Deborah, Eebeka's nurse, died, and they buried 
her beneath Bethel, under a.n oak." "What a history this 
place has ! How strange to stand here on the camping ground 
of the ancient patriarchs, musing on the wonderful events in 
their history ! 

"We have not time to trace the subsequent fortunes of Bethel. 
In the time of the conquest by Joshua, it was one of the royal 
cities, governed by a king, and was conquered by the Ephraim- 
ites, as it lay just upon the borders, between them and Benja- 
min. It afterwards became one of the cities in which Samuel 
held his circuit court when he judged Israel. The Ark of the 
Covenant seems at one time to have been kept here, and some 
suppose the Tabernacle was set up here. In the separation of 
the kingdom, after the death of Solomon, Jeroboam, fearing 
to have his people go up to Jerusalem to worship, lest they 
should be drawn back to their former allegiance, established 
idolatrous worship, made two golden calves, set one in Dan and 
the other he placed here in Bethel, and here he built a magni- 
ficent temple, after an Egyptian model, intended to rival the 
one at Jerusalem. Such was the iniquity and abomination of 
this idolatrous worship, the name Bethel — House of God — 
seemed no longer appropriate, and the name was changed to 
Beth-aven — House of Idols. It was in one of these idolatrous 
festivals that Jeroboam attempted to lay hold of a prophet of 
Grod who rebuked his abominable worship, and his arm was 
paralyzed and withered. These iniquities drew down the 
wrath of God upon the place, and twenty-five hundred years 
ago the prophet Amos was inspired to say : " Seek not Bethel, 
nor enter into Gilgal; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, 
and Bethel shall come to naught." Look upon these heaps of 
ruins, these broken cisterns, these neglected valleys ; has this 
prophecy been fulfilled ? "Whose Handwriting is here ? 

Our view of the desolate ruins of Bethel was completed, and 
we had now a ride of three or four hours to make to reach the 



A WILD GLEN. 



269 



place of our encampment, whither our mules and luggage had 
gone. Do the best we could, it would be dark an hour before 
we could reach the place, and these wild glens are not pleas- 
ant places for night travel. We now passed through a more 
highly cultivated portion of the country than any we had seen. 
Especially was this the case near a little village called Jifnah. 
It needed no interpreter to tell us that European capital and 
enterprise were here at work. The terraces were restored, 
waving grain adorned the valleys, olive and fig trees were 
planted upon the hill-sides, and the vine adorned their summits. 

THE robber's fountain. 

From this we passed into a region of the most wild and 
romantic scenery. Occasionally the remains of the old Eoman 
road, in some places quite perfect, could be seen. Along this 
route Titus came with his invading army, and not far from us 
was pointed out a place where he made one of his encamp- 
ments. The scenery of our road was constantly changing; 
sometimes we were clambering along hill-sides, among limestone 
bowlders, and the jagged points of limestone rocks, and again 
we plunged into the bottom of some deep glen, making our 
way along the rocky bed of some winter torrent. Just about 
dusk one of these wild glens expanded a little, giving a few 
rods of breadth to the valley, and the trickling waters from 
the rocks, festooned with ferns and trailing vines, were received 
into artificial basins cut in the bottom of the ledge. This 
"omantic place was distinguished by the suggestive name of 
"The Robber's Fountain." The name, the wildness of the 
place, its remoteness from human habitation, the rocky hills 
that rose up around us, the sombre shades of the evening, the 
solemn silence that brooded over the scene, all conspired to 
overawe the mind with an instinctive sense of fear, though 
we knew there was little or nothing to dread from robber bands. 
Refreshing ourselves and horses from the fountain, on we 
hastened, for it was now nearly dark, and we had four or five 
miles of this gloomy, almost trackless road to traverse to 
reach our tents. About 8 o'clock we reached our camp ; the 
cook soon had his smoking viands on the table, and we lay 



270 



THE HOLY LAND. 



down to rest, to spend our first night of " tent life " in our tour 
of northern Palestine. 

A VISIT TO SHILOH. 

April 16th. On rising this morning, we found, what we 
could not see as we came in last evening, that our camp was 
on a high hill overlooking one of the most beautiful valleys we 
liad yet seen, while near by us was quite a large Arab village. 
We have many places of interest to visit to-day — Old Shiloh, 
Jacob's Well, Shechem, Ebal and Gerizim are all in the pro- 
gramme, and we must lose no time. To reach Shiloh, now 
called Seilun, we had to make a detour of about one-half 
hour from our main road, and we hired an extra guide from the 
village to conduct us to the spot. At one period the site of 
Shiloh seems to have been overlooked, and almost forgotten, 
and many had come to the conclusion that E'eby Samuel was 
the place where the ark was kept, and where the tribes were 
accustomed to assemble. The researches of modern travelers, 
and the accuracy with which the location is pointed out in 
scripture, has identified the spot, I believe, to the satisfaction of 
almost every one. The Bible says it is " on the north side of 
Bethel, on the east of the highway that goeth up from Bethel 
to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah." We found the 
place an utter desolation — nothing to indicate that it had once 
been the center of worship, and the great rallying place of the 
tribes of Israel. A valley, perhaps a quarter of a mile broad, 
with sloping sides, forms the main feature. Projecting from 
the ridge, on one side of this, is a round-topped hillock, present- 
ing from one point of view the appearance of a small hill 
standing in the center of the valley. On this great natural 
mound was no doubt the sanctuary of God. As soon as the 
conquest of the land was so far completed as to allow it to be 
done in safety, the Tabernacle of God, with the sacred ark, 
and all its holy furniture, was removed from Gilgal to this 
place, and here it stood during all the time of the Judges to 
the days of Eli. Upon this site there is nothing standing but 
the ruins of an old stone building, probably first erected for a 
Christian church, and subsequently converted into a mosque. 



VISIT TO OLD SHILOH. 



271 



^ow the roof has disappeared, and the walls have fallen into 
heaps. A Moslem tomb, marking the resting place of some 
modern sheik, has been erected within the ruins, and this is all 
that preserves it from complete demolition. The tall, rank 
grass was waving among the stones, and the ground had been 
plowed up to the very foundation walls, and a crop of barley 
was rapidly approaching the harvest. 

HOSTILITY OF THE ARABS. 

"W"e led our horses through the standing grain, and placing 
them in charge of the servants, were soon wandering about the 
ruins. We had been upon the ground but a few minutes when 
several of the native Arabs made their appearance, and one of 
them, with an old broad-sword dangling from his belt and a 
long gun in his hand, running up to us in hostile attitude, and 
apparently in great rage, ordered us off the ground. One of 
our company, more belligerent than the rest, drew his revolver, 
and gave the infuriated son of Ishmael to understand that he 
was ready to meet him on his own terms. This only seemed 
to increase his rage, and he raved like a madman, while, as if by 
magic, though it was an out of the way place, near a dozen 
evil-looking, swarthy-faced fellows suddenly appeared about 
the place. I was standing near the tomb of the sheik, where I 
had been gathering some flowers, as the man, gun in hand, ap- 
proached me, motioning me off. It is said, love in the heart 
makes rainbows in the eyes; and now I felt that the converse 
of this was true, for malignity in the heart had filled his eyes 
with dancing demons, and I could see them spitting fire from 
beneath his long, dark lashes. I was unarmed, but did not 
care, for I knew of a charm that would exorcise the demoniacs 
quicker and more effectually than brimstone and blue pill. I 
sent a searching but pleasant glance deep into his flashing eyes, 
motioned — for I could not speak to him in Arabic — that I only 
wanted to gather a few flowers, and drawing a quarter of a dol- 
lar from my pocket, slipped it into his hand. O potent power, 
to bind the infuriated passions! There is a music in the sil- 
ver's clink that softens and calms even the heart of the un- 
tamed savage. His manner towards me changed in an instant, 



272 



THE HOLY LAND. 



and while lie went on bullying the rest, he would occasionally 
turn and give me a complacent look, as much as to say, " Go 
where you please and take what you want." Our dragoman 
interposed to preserve order between the natives and the more 
rudely disposed of our party, and at last succeeded in prevent- 
ing a quarrel. There is no doubt but these natives are a law- 
less, plundering set, but we had intruded upon their grounds, 
led our horses through their standing grain, and though the 
crop was a light one^ and but little injured by the intrusion, 
still they had a just claim upon us, and a few pence from each 
one, instead of meeting them by force, w^ould have set the 
matter all right. A party who followed us the same day got 
into an open rupture with them, and only succeeded, with great 
difficulty, in making their escape from them after blows had 
been exchanged on both sides. But do not let these uncivil, 
churlish Arabs divert us from the great object of our visit here. 

THE TABERNACLE AT SHILOH. 

This place was for more than three hundred years the center 
of worship for the tribes of Israel, and here, during all the long 
period of the Judges, they held their great annual festivals. It 
is no common ground on which we stand. This hill- top and 
this broad valley have been the theater of many an interesting 
e'^ent. That wonderful Tabernacle, and that holy Ark, that 
were built at the base of Sinai, and carried with such devout 
reverence through the wilderness, were here permanently located 
in the very heart of the country. It was at this place the 
tribes assembled together, when the land under Joshua was di- 
vided among them. Here Hannah of old brought her little son, 
Samuel, and dedicated him to the service of God. "For this 
child," said the pious mother, " I prayed, and the Lord hath 
given me my petition. Therefore, also I have lent him to the 
Lord as long as he liveth." Here that child of prayer grew up 
amid the scenes of the sanctuary, to honor his parents and 
bless his country. Here, for a long time, Eli was high priest. 
But though a well-disposed and amiable man, he appears to 
have been negligent and inefficient in the discharge of many 
of his duties. His two sons grew up in iniquity, unrestrained 



INCIDENTS AT SHILOH. 



27b 



by parental authorityj and the Lord signally rebuked his neg- 
lect. The armies of Israel were smitten by the Philistines, and 
they said: "It is because we have not the Ark of God with 
us." Tbey sent to Shiloh, and contrary to all precedent, took 
the Ark of God from its place in the Tabernacle, placed it at 
the head of their army, and again went out to meet their ene- 
my. But Israel had sinned, and God was not with them. In 
vsdn do we have the symbols of his presence if the spirit is not 
with us. And now by the gate of this city, Eli, still anxious 
for the honor of Israel and the safety of the ark, sat waiting 
for tidings from the battle-field. A runner approaches, and 
cautiously announces the result : " Israel is smitten before the 
Philistines." Heavy news for the man of God. "There 
has been a great slaughter, and thirty thousand of our men 
Lave perished." "Worse and worse. " Thy two sons, Hophni 
and Phineas, are slain." Alas, those wicked sons ; what a blow 
to an aged parent's heart ; but still the old man could bear up 
under it. " And the Ark of God is taken captive." This was 
the heaviest blow of all, for he loved the ark before which he 
had so often sprinkled the blood of atonement. When he 
heard this he fell from his seat; his neck was broken, and life 
was extinct. So vividly, as I stood on this ground, was this 
tragic scene before me, I almost involuntarily looked about me, 
wondering if the place where this old servant of God expired 
could not still be found. That Ark never returned to Shiloh ; 
Israel ceased to gather here, and the place was eventually for- 
saken. 

As I looked down upon the valley, I was struck with the ap- 
propriateness of the place for the assembling of a large con- 
course of people. In that beautiful valley, and along those 
sloping hill-sides, thousands upon thousands could have been 
congregated, and all have been in the immediate vicinity and 
within sight of the Tabernacle of God. This valley, during 
the days of the Judges, was made the scene of a singular ad- 
venture by the remnant of the Benjaminites, who escaped from 
the frightful massacre with which their brethren had been vis- 
ited by the other tribes for the horrid crime perpetrated at 
Gibeah. Their women had all been slain, and the other tribes 



274 



THE HOLY LAND. 



had all bound tliemselves by oath they would not give them 
their daughters for wives. Knowing the maidens of Shiloh 
held an annual festival in honor of the ark, by the connivance 
of the elders of Israel, two hundred of these young Benjamin- 
itesj hid themselves in the vineyards upon these hill-sides, and 
while the daughters of Shiloh were engaged in their open-air 
festivities, they suddenly sprang upon them from their hiding- 
places, and each man seized upon a damsel, and bore her away 
as his future wife. 

Leaving Shiloh, we soon reached the main road, a troop of 
the impudent natives following us nearly a mile, sometimes 
holding on to our bridle-reins, clamoring for backsheesh. A 
one-eyed, ruffianly-looking fellow had my horse by the head full 
fifteen minutes, until tired of his importunities, I gave him a 
piaster, when the insolent vagabond left me. 

"We had been riding among the steep declivities and rocky 
passes of Benjamin; we were now emerging into the more fer- 
tile vales of Ephraim. The hills became more sloping, the val • 
leys broader and more fertile. A succession of hills and vales 
were passed. At last we wound our weary way up a high 
ridge of land, and upon reaching the summit, what a view 
greeted our eyes ! Before us, stretched away for many miles, 
a beautiful valley, teeming with luxuriant crops ; to the left of 
it peered up the round-top of Gerizim, and just beyond it the 
more sullen-looking brow of Ebal, while far in the distance, old 
Hermon lifted his hoary peaks into the clouds, covered with 
huge banks of snow glistening in the sunlight. From this in- 
teresting hight we rapidly descended, wound around the base 
of Gerizim, having the beautiful ''Valley of Cornfields" upon 
our right, passed Jacob's Well, which we will not stop to exam- 
ine now, as we shall return to it again when we have more leis- 
ure, and about 4 o'clock pitched our tents under some old olive 
trees by the walls of 

NABULOUS, OR OLD SHECHEM. 

This city has an old and interesting history, reaching back 
four thousand years. In the striking and impressive events 
connected with it, it holds a place next to Jerusalem and the 



ABKAHAM'S ALTAE. 



275 



plain of the Jordan. It is tlie Shechem of the Old Testament, 
the Sjchar of the IS'ew. In the Eoman conquest it seems to 
have been completely destroyed, but was re-built by Vespasian, 
and called ITeapolis, New City, which in Arabic is now called 
^^Tabulous, usually pronounced Nab-loos. Dr. Barclay, by pre- 
vious arrangement, again met us here, having came from Jalfa 
for that purpose. We are to spend one day and two nights 
here, and shall have full time to visit all the interesting locali- 
ties of the place. Our visit completed here, a part of the com- 
pany are to go with the Doctor to explore the ruins of old 
Csesarea upon the sea-coast, with a view of ascertaining the 
feasibility of establishing a settlement there, while the other 
part of our company will proceed to Beirut, by the way of 
Mount Carmel. To-night we will look at the history of the 
place ; to-morrow we will make an excursion about the city and 
mountains. 

The first account we have of this spot is in connection with 
Abraham's entrance into the land. At the age of seventy-five 
years, in obedience to the call of God, he left Ur first, then 
Haran, crossed the Jordan, and passed through the land into 
the place of Sichem,'' the Canaanite being then in the land. 
Wherever this patriarch went he took his religion with him. 
Here, though among an idolatrous people, he built an altar 
unto the Lord, and here God promised him an inheritance in 
the land. Here, then, we have pitched our tent, where Abra- 
ham sojourned, and upon the very ground where stood the 
first altar that Canaan saw consecrated to Jehovah God! 

Jacob, after his sojourn in Messopotamia, returned with his 
numerous family, his flocks and herds, and following in the 
steps of his grandfather Abraham, came to Salem, a city of 
Shechem, there pitched his tents, and bought from Hamor, the 
father of Shechem, the piece of ground of which we shall have 
occasion to speak hereafter. As if to perpetuate the remem- 
brance of this visit of J acob, on the slope of one of the hills 
opposite this valley, and not more than two miles distant, is a 
little village, now called Salim. Here, too, in imitation of his 
great progenitor, he built an altar, and called it El-Elohe-Isra- 
el, God the God of Israel. But this place was not only early 



276 



THE HOLY LAND. 



houored with tlie altars of God, here the earth was stained 
with the blood of revenge; for it was here Simeon and Levi, for 
the wrong done their sister, treacherously brought the men of 
the city into their power, and slew all the males, including 
Hamor and Shechem his father, with the edge of the sword. 
Gen. xxxiv. Other events we shall have occasion to describe 
as we take our walks about the place. 

THE SAMARITANS. 

We have brought letters of introduction from Dr. Levishon 
and Prof. Krauss of Jerusalem to Mr. Shellabar, (I am not 
sure I have the name right, I spell it as pronounced,) a leading 
man among the Samaritans ; and as we have time this evening 
to go into the city, we will improve the opportunity and make 
arrangements for our excursion to-morrow. We found Mr. 
Shellabar a kind-hearted, intelligent man, and able to converse 
fluently in English, and as he was brought up in this city, and 
is well posted in all matters pertaining to the place, we consid- 
ered ourselves peculiarly fortunate in making his acquaintance. 
With two such persons with us as Mr. S. and Dr. B., we shall 
be able to spend our time here to the best advantage. There is 
a remnant of the old Samaritan stock still existing here, main- 
taining the faith and forms of worship handed down from gen- 
eration to generation, as they believe, from the very time of 
Moses. Among these Mr. S. was born and bred. They believe 
as firmly as in the days of the Savior that in this mountain — 
Gerizim — men ought to worship, and there only will they offer 
their sacrifices. They have a priest, who, they claim, is a line- 
al descendant of Aaron, and they assert that the priesthood 
has continued in an unbroken succession among them. Their 
present priest is quite aged, and the only person in the priestly 
line that can succeed him is a nephew, now about twenty years 
old. Their scriptures are the five books of Moses only. Of 
these they have, as they claim, very ancient copies, of which 
we have spoken in connection with Dr. Levishon's labors at 
Jerusalem, and of which we shall speak again, as we expect to 
see the old copy, written, they say, by the great grandson of 
Aaron. They adhere strictly to the Mosaic law, prohibiting 



THE SAMAKITANS. 



279 



any alliance with otlier sects, and never marrying out of the 
pale of their own society. The consequence is, they are con- 
stantly diminishing, and are now reduced, all told, to about one 
hundred and thirty. Mr. S. informed us that they had sev- 
eral young men, who were living single, because they had no wives 
for them! They live by themselves, despised, and often illy 
treated by their Mohammedan rulers. A fine stone structure 
in the city, about one thousand years old, was formerly- their 
synagogue, but it was wrested from them by their oppressors 
and turned into a mosque, and they compelled to worship in a 
more obscure and humble place. I was much interested in this 
remnant of an ancient race, and these representatives of an an- 
cient religion, for I was not aware, until I mingled with them 
here, that they had kept themselves so completely separated 
from all foreign alliances. We shall learn more of them to- 
morrow. 

ASCENT OP GERIZIM. 

April 17th. Before we commence our walk this morning, let 
us endeavor to have a definite idea of the localities of the 
places we are to visit. Eeferriug to the picture of Gerizim and 
Ebal, standing in the foreground, just where you see the small 
figures of men and horses, you are upon the beautiful " Plain 
of Cornfields," along the left side of which we came as we ap- 
. proached the city. The round-topped mountain upon the left 
is Gerizim, the Mount of Blessings the bolder and rougher 
looking one upon the right is Ebal, the " Mount of Cursing.'' 
Just at the opening of the narrow valley that separates them, is 
Jacob's Well, and a short distance from it, partly towards Ebal, 
is Joseph's Tomb; while from a half to three-fourths of a mile 
up the valley is Shechem, or l!Tabulous. The valley between 
these mountains is a beautiful one — a fine stream of water 
dashing along its pebbly bed, fields of corn, large olive trees, 
and orchards of various kinds of fruits, while the town, with 
its gray walls and numerous domes, lies nestling under the base 
of Gerizim, almost concealed by the tangled growth of trees 
and shrubbery that surrounds it. 
We left the city and took a circuitous path to reach the sum- 



280 



THE HOLY LAND. 



mit of Gerizim by as gentle an ascent as possible. At tbe 
bight of about two hundred feet we came upon a conspicuous 
fountain of water, sending a large, refreshing stream down to- 
wards the city, which seemed now to lie almost directly be- 
neath our feet. Standing thus and looking down upon the 
domes and minarets of the city, one can readily understand 
how it was that Jotham could stand here, and make his taunt- 
ing speech of the parable of the trees and the bramble, in the 
presence of all the city, (Judges ix.,) and then make his escape 
before the men of the city could reach him. 

The mountain rises about eight hundred feet above the plain. 
The soil is rich and capable of cultivation to the very top. As 
we came near the summit Mr. S. pointed out to us a small spot 
of ground inclosed by a low, rude stone wall. This, he in- 
formed us, belonged to the Samaritans, having been purchased 
by his grandfather for their exclusive use. Here they come up 
three times a year to worship the God of their fathers. The 
anniversary of the Passover is their great annual festival. On 
this occasion, all that are able to leave their homes, men, wo- 
men and children, make a pilgrimage up the mount, taking 
tents with them, prepared to spend a night upon the summit. 
On this piece of ground they encamp, and make preparations 
for the solemn feast. Calling our attention to a hollow spot in 
the ground: ^'Here," he says, "is where the paschal lambs 
are slain. Seven men, each with a lamb, arrange themselves in 
a circle around these stones; the priest stands upon that little 
eminence yonder and watches the setting sun. The seven men 
have their victims bound, and knives raised ready to let fall the 
blow. The moment the sun disappears below the horizon, the 
word is given ; the knives fall, and the quivering victims are 
writhing in the agonies of death." Then pointing to another 
similar place, " Here," he says, " is the place where the flesh is 
roasted in the fire ; and here is where the bones, and what re- 
mains after the feast is over, are burned." These last two places 
had the remnants of the fires that had been kindled still re- 
maining, and on raking open the ashes of the latter place, I 
found the remains of some of the bones of the last sacrifice, 
partially charred, which T brought away with me. 



ASCENT OF GERIZIM. 



281 



From this place we had but a few rods to go, and we stood 
on the site of their ancient temple. A large portion of the 
rock has been graded down, and is as level as a house floor, but 
every vestige of the walls has disappeared. This spot is to 
the Samaritan what Mount Moriah and the site of Solomon's 
Temple is to the Jew. It is holy ground, and he takes off his 
shoes when he steps upon it. They claim that here is the place 
that Melchisedek met Abraham, and that on this mount 
Abraham offered Isaac ; and here our guide pointed out to us 
twelve stones, which they believe to be the veritable ones 
taken by command of Joshua from the bed of the Jordan, 
when the waters were divided before the Ark of God! and 
here they believe the ark was brought and the tabernacle 
set up. 

After the return from the Babylonish captivity, a mongrel 
race of Jews and Gentiles inhabited this portion of the country. 
They adopted the Pentateuch, and the leading features of the 
Jewish faith, but the Jews rejected them, and shut them from 
the Temple at Jerusalem. This led to the erection of a Tem- 
ple on Gerizim, and to the claim set up by them that it was 
the true place of worship ; hence the long and obstinate reli- 
gious feud that is perpetuated even to this day. This Samari- 
tan Temple upon Gerizim was probably built about four hun- 
dred and twenty years B. C; when it was finally destroyed, it 
•is difficult now to tell. Upon the top of the mount are the ruins 
of an immense structure, reaching about four hundred feet in one 
direction and two hundred in another. It is a massive piece of 
work, built of hewn stone, and among the ruins are several deep 
wells and cisterns. Some suppose it to be the ruins of the old 
Samaritan Temple. The Samaritans, however, do not claim it 
as such, and most writers suppose it to be the remains of an old 
Roman fortress built by Justinian. The view from the top of 
this mountain is one of the finest and most extensive in all 
Palestine. Upon the west are the waters of the Mediterranean, 
with a portion of the Plain of Sharon and Jaffa lying upon the 
sea shore ; on the east you look down into the valley of the 
Jordan ; while far beyond it, the view is bounded by the great 
mountain chain stretching far away from north to south, and 



282 



THE HOLY LAND. 



rising peak over peak ; to the north, old Hermon lifts his tow- 
ering form high into the heavens, his snow-capped peaks 
wrapped in clouds of mist ; while all around you are the moun- 
tains of Ephraim, the former home and great stronghold of 
this powerful branch of the house of Joseph. "The rich plains 
and valleys are seen winding like a green net-work among 
them, waving with corn, and fat with the olive and the vine." 

THE PLACE OP BLESSING AND CURSING. 

We nov/ descended part way down the mountain-side toward 
Ebal, to get a view Qf the probable place of the assembling of 
the tribes under Joshua, to pronounce the blessings and the 
curses upon Israel. In the narrowest portion of the valley 
there was a kind of projection or spur upon the side of Gerizim, 
and as we looked across there seemed to be a corresponding 
one upon the side of Ebal. The valley here is not more than 
sixty rods broad. Here, we almost involuntarily said, must be 
the place of that august and solemn assemblage ! This meeting 
was appointed by Moses before his death, and particular direc- 
tions given how it should be conducted. Here, after the con- 
quest of the land, Joshua assembled the tribes; six of them 
were placed on this side, and six on yonder Ebal — these to 
bless, those to curse — the vast multitudes, no doubt, covering 
the mountain-sides and filling the plain below. Here we sat 
down, took out our bibles, and read aloud the blessings and the 
curses as they were pronounced on that solemn occasion. Deut. 
xxvii. xxviii. The ark of the covenant was here, the elders, 
and officers, and judges ranged round it — the whole nation of 
Israel w^ere here, with their women and little ones. " This was," 
says Thompson, "beyond question or comparison, the most 
august assembly the sun has ever shone upon; and I never 
stand in the narrow plain, with Ebal and Gerizim rising on 
either hand to the sky, without involuntarily recalling and re- 
producing the scene. I have shouted to hear the echo, and 
then fancied how it must have been when the loud-voiced Le- 
vites proclaimed from the naked clifis of Ebal, ' Cursed be the 
man that maketh any graven image, an abomination unto Je- 
hovah.' And the tremendous Amen ! tenfold louder, from the 



AN OLD WEL L. 



283 



miglitj congregation, rising, and swelling, and re-echoing from 
Ebal to Gerizim, and from Gerizim to Ebal. AMEN ! Even 
so let him be accursed. ISTo, there never was an assembly to 
compare with this." Here, also, Joshua set up pillars of 
stone, with the words of the law engraven on them. From 
this point we made a direct and rapid descent toward 

JACOB'S WELL. 

Jacob's Well ! What traveler through Palestine fails to visit 
it? What journalist does not describe it? It is one of the 
ancient landmarks ; many a historic association clusters around 
it. Here patriarchs watered their flocks; here Jesus rested 
and refreshed himself, and the modern traveler sits down by it, 
looks inquiringly into its deep, dark depths, or lets down his cup 
and line for a draught of its waters. It is situated just at the 
opening of the valley, between Ebal and Gerizim ; is nine feet 
in diameter, and about ninety feet deep — an excavation into the 
solid limestone rock. The sides are hewn smooth and regular. 
It must have been constructed at an enormous outlay of time 
and labor. An excavation about fifteen feet square, and eight 
or ten deep, has been made about the mouth, walled up and 
arched over, making a subterranean vault or chamber over the 
mouth of the well. The roof of this vault has now fallen in, 
and the loose stones and dirt have accummulated about the 
mouth below, and the natives have rolled a large stone over 
the opening, to prevent the loose material from falling into 
the well. This gave the well formerly two mouths or open- 
ings, one in the roof of the arched vault, one opening from 
the floor of the vault beneath. It is this circumstance, I pre- 
sume, that has given rise to the discrepancies in the reports of 
different travelers, as to the depth of the well, some measuring 
from the lower mouth, some from the opening in the vault 
above. From the lower mouth it is seventy-five feet deep. 

We let down a line, with a cup attached, and drew up some 
of the water, which each of our company tasted. The well 
has no living spring or fountain, probably never had. Mr. S. 
informed us that the depth of water varied according to the 
season of the year ; during the rainy season it accummulates 



284 



THE HOLY LAITD. 



to the depth of fifteen to twenty feet, and in time of drought 
sometimes entirely disappears. It may be this circumstance 
of the failure of the water, that gave an intensity of meaning 
to the words of the Savior as he talked with the woman : " If 
thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that said to thee, 
give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he 
would have given the living water." John iv. 10. A portion 
of ground about the well has formerly been inclosed by a 
stone wall, but it is now in a sadly dilapidated condition. 
^sTear by the well are the ruins of an old stone church, built in 
the times of the Crusaders. Among the ruins I noticed two or 
three finely wrought granite columns. This renowned parcel 
of ground, bought by Jacob of the children of Hamor, near 
eighteen hundred years before Christ, for one hundred pieces 
of money, has recently been sold again, Mr. S. informing us 
that he assisted in the negotiation. It has been bought by 
the Greeks, who paid for it one hundred thousand piasters. 
They have already commenced improving the grounds, and 
are inclosing about one-fourth of an acre with a heavy stone 
wall, with a view, I presume, to reconstructing the old church, 
and perhaps adding a convent, so that it will not be long 
before from the spot on which Jacob built his altar, where 
Samaritans and Mohammedans have worshiped, the songs of 
Christian praise will again be heard. 

This well was to me one of the deeply interesting places of 
the Holy Land. Here we were, upon the great road along 
which Jesus "must needs" travel in his journey frOm Jerusa- 
lem to Galilee. To this well he came, and weary with his 
journey, on its open mouth he sat. To yonder city his dis- 
ciples went to buy meat, and here alone, during the burning 
heat of the day, he reposed. Two thousand years have not 
changed the scenery, while the customs of the inhabitants, in 
many particulars, remain the same. Sitting here upon this 
well, you may still see the women passing and repassing, with 
their water-pots upon their heads, just as in those ancient 
times. There, right before us, rises the mountain summit of 
Gerizim ; here are the Samaritans, just as tenaciously contend- 
ing with the Jews about the place of worship, as they did 



JACOB'S WELL. 



285 



when the woman, standing on this spot, referred the great 
question to Jesus : " Our fathers worshiped in this mountain 
[Gerizim], and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men 
ought to worship." I could not but feel that this well, these 
mountians, and that city, were so many monuments, planted 
and perpetuated by the wisdom and power of God, upon 
which he has inscribed the evidences of his own truth. Here 
men come, and sit and read the instructive lessons of Divine 
revelation, and all the surroundings bring vividly to mind and 
witness to the truth of the story of Jesus ! Here it was Joshua 
was commanded to set up pillars of stone, and inscribe the 
law of God upon them, that Israel might know his command- 
ments. Here, too, a greater than Israel's leader, our own 
Joshua, has left his memorial records, designed to keep fresh 
in our minds the remembrance of the great fountain from 
which we must draw the water of life. 

JOSEPH'S TOMB. 

From his home in Hebron, Joseph, then a mere lad, came to 
this field, seeking his brethren as they led their flocks among 
the rich pastures of this valley. A man found him wandering 
about here and sent him to Hothan, whither his brethren had 
gone. What befell him there, at the hands of his envious 
brothers, all well know. Had that lad Joseph, as he wandered 
iabout these grounds, had power to look by prophetic ken 
down the long vista of the future, what strange scenes of 
history would have passed before his vision ! 

Nearly one hundred years passed away. In a distant land, 
in a princely palace, surrounded by the wealth and splendor 
of an eastern court, as prime minister of one of the most 
powerful nations of earth, he lay upon his dying bed. His 
children and kindred gathered around him to close his eyes in 
death. " God," said he to his people, " will assuredly visit 
you and bring you out of this land unto the land which he 
sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." There and then 
he exacted of them an oath, that they would carry up his 
bones with them when they went out of Egj^pt. Long years 
passed away, strange events transpired, and his descendants, 



286 



THE HOLY LAND. 



led by the wisdom and power of God, reared up their altars 
in this valley. And the bones of Joseph, which the children 
of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in 
a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor 
the father of Shechem, for an hundred pieces of silver." 
Josh. xxiv. 32. 

Leaving the well, we passed a short distance across the plain 
toward the base of Ebal, when we entered a little square area, 
inclosed by a high stone wall, neatly whitewashed. Across 
one end of this little in closure is a Moslem tomb, surmounted 
by a dome — the Tomb of Joseph, Samaritan and Jew, Moslem 
and Christian, alike revere it, and honor it with their visits. 
We paused a few moments in the interior, musing upon the 
strange vicissitudes in the life of him whose dust was here 
moldering under the shadow of Ebal and Gerizim. The 
Tomb of Joseph ! — the dutiful son — the affectionate, forgiving 
brother — the virtuous man — the wise prince and ruler ! Egypt 
felt his influence; the world knows his history. Thirty-five 
hundred years have not effaced the memory of his integrity 
and wisdom ; his holy, useful life instructs us, travelers from 
all climes come and meditate in the shadow of his monument, 
and his tomb preaches to us ! I plucked a few leaves and 
flowers from the shrubs and vines that ornament the interior 
of the inclosure, and with my companions turned away toward 
the city. 

THE OLD MANUSCRIPT. 

"We have before spoken of the old manuscript of the Samar- 
itan Pentateuch, procured from this people by Dr. Levishon 
and Prof. Krauss of Jerusalem. They have one in their syna- 
gogue here, for which they claim an antiquity quite astound- 
ing, i^'othing but a liberal backsheesh can overcome the 
strong reluctance of the priest to exhibit to infidel eyes this 
remarkable document. The letter we had brought from J eru- 
salem paved the way, and a gold sovereign overcame all 
scruples. Divested of our shoes, we entered their little syna- 
gogue sanctuary, and stood before their altar. A richly 
wrought curtain concealed a recess, from which the young 
priest brought out the remarkable document and set it upon 



SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH. 



287 



the table before us — the five books of Moses, written upon 
beautiful parchment, in the ancient Samaritan character, 
(these Samaritans say the character used by Moses,) done up in 
the form of a scroll, now kept in an elegant silver case, rolled 
in an antique looking cloth of blue, purple and scarlet, inter- 
woven with threads of gold. As it is of comparatively recent 
date that these manuscripts have been known to the world, 
and exhibited to travelers, there has as yet been but little 
opportunity of testing their claim to antiquity. If the one 
now in possession of Dr. L., at Jerusalem, was written, as he 
believes, while the first temple was standing, it is nothing un- 
reasonable to suppose that this may have been written while as 
yet the Hebrews worshiped in the old Tabernacle. Such 
antiquity at any rate they claim for it. The transcriber's im- 
print is wrought in one portion of the scroll into the text in the 
form of an acrostic, and reads : Written by Abishua, son of 
Phineas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron ! " Did I then look 
upon a copy of the Pentateuch, transcribed by a great grand- 
son of the first Hebrew High Priest ! The stones set up by 
Joshua, inscribed with the law, perished under the wasting 
influence of time and the devastations of war, and are known 
no more. Did God hide away these copies written on parch- 
ment, and has he kept them secreted from the world for more 
than three thousand years, that in the fullness of time they may 
' be brought from their obscurity and testify to the antiquity of his 
revelation ? It may be so. Some sincerely believe it. Dr. 
Levishon's fac-simile of the one in his possession will soon be 
before the world, and scholars will have an opportunity of in- 
vestigating its claims. 

Two or three hours of the evening were spent looking about 
the city, climbing about the rugged sides of Ebal, and recall- 
ing the prominent incidents that have here transpired. We 
wondered where that oak stood under which Jacob buried the 
ear-rings, and strange gods that had perverted the worship of 
his family ! We recalled that solemn assembly, when Joshua 
gathered all Israel at this place, and gave them his earnest 
dying advice. We thought on the strange anomalies existing 
here, as seen in the oldest and yet the smallest religious sect 



288 



THE HOLY LAND. 



in the world, and how in this vale, and on these hills, worship 
has been perpetuated, almost without change, from the days of 
Abraham. 

THE LEPERS OF SHECHEM. 

April 18. This city is one of the principal resorts of the 
lepers that still infest the land, and among whom that awful 
disease — a type of sin in the moral constitution of man — is 
still perpetuated. Our tent was pitched under the shadow of 
some venerable old olive trees, that must have seen the changes 
of many hundreds of years. There is something interesting 
in the olive ; a thousand scriptural associations are connected 
with it. The morning was pleasant, and leaving our tent, our 
breakfast table was spread in the open air, under the overhang- 
ing boughs of one of these old trees. A large number of the 
lounging villagers, men, women and children, gathered around 
us. Among the rest came a company of disgusting looking 
lepers, and seated themselves upon the ground, in a sort of 
semi-circle, only a few feet from our table. Much as I com- 
miserated their sad condition, I could not endure the sight of 
them so near me, especially at meal time, and I asked the 
dragoman to send them away. This he did with considerable 
rudeness, when, retiring to a more respectful distance, they 
again seated themselves in the same manner. Breakfast over, 
knowing they had come to beg, and feeling a sympathy for 
them, I counted, and saw fourteen sitting in the company, side 
by side. A lad from the city was there with a basket full of 
barley loaves for sale. I bargained with him for a quantity, 
and taking a loaf for each, went up to them, and commenced 
the distribution. They immediately rose and clustered close 
about me, eager to snatch the proffered gift, and before I had 
finished the distribution, their number, as if by magic, seemed 
to be doubled, and each, as he got his loaf, hid it under his 
loose garment, and stretched out his hand for more. I saw at 
once I had a larger contract than I had bargained for, and 
that when I undertook to feed the hungry, it was the people 
that were multiplied, and not the loaves ; so I made a hasty 
retreat from the unpleasant crowd. 



TOMB or ST. JOHN. 



291 



CHAPTER X. 

From Gerizim and Shechem to Fazareth — Old Samaria — 
Jezreel — Mount Tabor — Sea of Galilee. 

April IStL Leaving Shechem , our road, for nearly an hour, 
lay through the beautiful Yalley of l^abulous. A fine stream 
of water goes dashing along its pebbly bed, a rare and cheerful 
sight in this now thirsty land. 'Not far from the city we passed 
the remains of an old aqueduct, probably Roman ; several fine 
stone arches still standing. We also passed a mill for grinding 
corn, the first one I have seen in this country turned by water. 
A ride of two and a half hours, over a road far better than any 
we had before traveled, brought us to Samaria, once the capital 
of this portion of the country, now called Sebaste or Sebustieh. 
As we traveled northward the fertility of the land seemed con- 
stantly increasing. The inhabitants were a stout, robust-look- 
ing race, all armed, even when about their homes and most or- 
dinary business. Each man usually carried a flint-lock gun, an 
old, antique-looking broad sword stuck in his belt, and some- 
times pistols. As we approached Samaria, there was a beauti- 
ful diversity of hill and dale; the sloping hill-sides crowned 
with verdure to the very summits. 

At half-past 9 o'clock we reached Samaria, the ancient capi- 
tal of this portion of the country, now called Sebaste. It is a 
miserable Arab village of about sixty houses, and is all that now 
remains to mark the spot where a large city once stood, and 
royalty held court in the midst of beautiful palaces and exten- 
sive colonnades. Of the modern village, the chief attraction to 
the traveler is an old pile of ruins, dating back to the days of 
the Crusaders, known as the Church and Tomb of St. John. 

It stands upon the hill-side, a little east of the village, and 



292 



THE HOLY LAI^D. 



the only portion of it in a sufficient state of repair to be used 
is now occupied by the Moslem inhabitants as a mosque. Be- 
neath the ruins of this old church, in a little chamber deeply 
cut in the rock, is the reputed tomb of John the Baptist, called 
by the Arabs I^eby Yahya. It was this tomb we desired most 
to visit ; and apprised beforehand of the rude character of the 
inhabitants. Dr. Barclay, who was still with us, had procured 
a firman from the governor of ^fabulous, whose jurisdiction 
extends to this place also, ordering the authorities to allow us 
to enter. To enforce the firman, he sent with us two armed 
soldiers from the standing guard kept at the former city. Some 
of our company had gone on in advance, and apprised of our 
approach, a rude rabble of citizens gathered around the church. 
The keeper of the place demanded an exorbitant backsheesh 
as a condition of opening the door. This we refused to pay, 
knowing it was a lawless act in them to attempt to obstruct the 
order of the governor of E'abulous. The soldiers coming up, 
Dr. B. appealed to them to enforce the order, and open the 
doors for us. By this time a fierce-looking set had gathered 
around, armed with guns and cutlasses, evidently bent on mis- 
chief. They set us, soldiers, firman and all, at defiance, and de- 
manded the backsheesh as the only terms of admittance. The 
soldiers, seeing the state of things, refused to enforce the order ; 
and after looking about the ruins, we left, much to their disap- 
pointment, for they had evidently calculated we would pay the 
backsheesh, or fight our way through; but we thought best 
neither to encourage their insolent demands, nor get into a 
quarrel with them. For one, however, I confess I was consid- 
erably disappointed ; I did want to stand by the tomb, and look 
upon, the spot where moldered the remains of the man who 
preached in the wilderness of Judea, baptized Jesus in the Jor- 
dan, who dared to rebuke a wicked king, and whose head alone 
could appease the wrath of an offended paramour. 

THE ANCIENT CITY. 

We rode over the hill to get a view of the location of the 
ancient city, and some of the ruins that still remain. The ori- 
gin of it is readily told: "In the thirty and first year of Asa, 



S AM AEI A. 



293 



King of Judah, began Omri to reign over Israel twelve years; 
SIX years reigned he in Tirzah. And he bought the hill of Sa- 
maria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, 
and called the name of the city which he built after the name 
of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria." 1 Kings, xvi. 23, 24. 
The site was certainly a most appropriate and picturesque one. 
Here is a beautiful valley about five miles in circumference, 
surrounded by lofty hills covered with vegetation. In the very 
center of this valley is a flatish, oval hill, upon which the an- 
cient town was built — a hill within an amphitheatre of hills, sur- 
rounded on every side by a beautiful valley, "l^o better site," 
says one, "could have been selected for a capital, in all the 
length and breadth of Palestine — a strong position, rich envi- 
rons, a central situation, and an elevation sufficient to catch, 
untainted, the cool, healthy breezes from the sea." 

As we rode around the brow of the hill we passed along the 
ruins of an ancient colonnade, probably belonging to the days 
of Herod. There were two rows of columns, about fifty feet 
apart. These columns were sixteen feet high, and about two 
feet in diameter; some of them are still standing, and the whole 
highth can be seen above ground ; some of them are broken 
off near the ground, and some can be seen lying about, scat- 
tered among the ruined terraces. This remarkable colonnade 
extended about three thousand feet, and in one part of it some 
sixty of the columns can yet be seen standing. Having passed 
along this ancient pathway, marked by majestic columns, we 
left our horses, climbed over the stone walls, along the terraces, 
and through cultivated fields of grain and olive groves, to the 
top of the hill. Here we found in one place an open area, once 
surrounded with columns, fifteen of which are still standing. 
On the northeast side of the hill is another remarkable cluster 
of these columns. They are arranged in the form of a quad- 
rangle, and the space inclosed, one hundred and ninety-six 
paces long, has been leveled by the hand of art. Fifteen whole 
columns are still standing, and the original number to complete 
the inclosure must have been one hundred and seventy. These, 
as well as other ruins, attest the former greatness and magnifi- 
cence of the city. Around this hill and in the immediate vi- 



294 



THE HOLY LAND. 



cinity of this ancient city have transpired some of the interest- 
ing scenes of biblical history. Omri died, and was succeeded 
by Ahab, who married the notorious Jezebel, daughter of the 
King of Sidon. Instigated by his idolatrous wife, he built here 
a magnificent temple dedicated to Baal, planted a grove, and 
ran into the wildest excesses of heathen abominations, so much 
so, it is said, he "did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel 
to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him." 
Here was the scene of some of the striking events in the lives 
of Elijah and Elisha. The King of Syria was at war with Is- 
rael, and he was astonished and perplexed to fi.nd that the King 
of Israel was acquainted with all his movements. Suspecting 
he had a traitor in his camp, he called a council and made the 
inquiry: ''Who among us is for the King of Israel?" One 
of his servants said : '' ^one, my Lord, King ; but Ehsha the 
Prophet that is in Israel telleth the King of Israel the words 
that thou speakest in thy bed-chamber." Then he sent horses 
and chariots and a great host to take that prophet of the Lord, 
and bring him to the Syrian camp. And they came to Dothan 
where Elisha was, and encompassed the city. When Elisha's 
servant looked out upon* that besieging army he cried out: 
"Alas, master, what shall we do?" "Fear not," said the 
prophet, " they are more that be for us than those that are 
against us." And the Lord opened the eyes of that servant, 
and he saw the "mountains full of horses and chariots of fire 
round about Elisha." How strangely, and with what power 
the Lord encamps about them that fear him. "Lord," said 
Elisha, "smite these men with blindness;" and immediately 
the whole multitude were groping about in darkness. " Whom 
do you seek?" said Elisha, as he approached them. "This is 
not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me, and I will 
bring you to the man you want ! " And he led them into the 
midst of this very city, Samaria ! " Lord," said Elisha again, 
"open the eyes of these men." What was their astonishment 
to find themselves prisoners in the very court of the King of 
Israel. "What shall I do?" said the King to Elisha; "shall I 
smite them?" "E"©. Thou shalt not smite them. Wouldst 
thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy 



SAMAEIA DELIVERED. 



295 



sword?" The good and the great are always magnanimous. 
" Feed them," said the prophet, and let them go." They came 
to their master with the strange story of their mission. The 
King of Syria was at an utter loss to know how to carry on a 
warfare with such an enemy, and he immediately left the 
country. 

That plain also upon which w^e look down from this hill, was 
the scene of two unsuccessful attempts of Benhadad to take 
Samaria. The first time, he was defeated in consequence of a 
drunken frolic, in which himself and chief officers were en- 
gaged — not the only or last time a battle has been lost through 
the incapacity of drunken officers. Upon another occasion, 
that same king closely besieged this city, and the inhabitants 
were driven to the utmost extremity by famine. The king, 
clothed in sackcloth, had his soul wrought up to the most in- 
tense degree of anguish, by the appeal of one of the mothers 
of the city. "What aileththee?" said the king. "This wo- 
man said unto me : Give thy son, that we may eat him to-day, 
and we will eat my son to-morrow." The first part of this 
horrid covenant was consummated and the child cooked and 
eaten; "and now," continued the complaining mother, "she 
hath hid her son." In the midst of these indescribable horrors, 
Elisha sat in his house, his life hunted by the king, and when 
a messenger from that king with a warrant to slay him stood 
in his presence, the prophet met him fearlessly. " Thus saith 
the Lord, to-morrow about this time shall a measure of fine 
flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a 
shekel in the gate of Samaria." The story is too long to nar- 
rate here. But that night the Lord filled the besieging hosts 
of the Syrians with imaginary dread, and they fled, leaving 
every thing behind them. All their immense stores fell into 
the hands of the Samaritans, and the words of the prophet 
were made true. 2 Kings, vii. 

It was to this city ITaaman came to be healed of his leprosy. 
To this idolatrous city, in less than one year after the Savior's 
death, Philip came preaching Christ, and here was organized 
the first Christian church out of Jerusalem. Of the glory of 
ancient Samaria, nothing now remains but heaps of stones and 



296 



THE HOLY LAND. 



mutilated columns. Where once costly palaces stood, and 
mighty kings reigned, the half-civilized fellah builds his miser- 
able hovel; while along these valleys, where great armies en- 
camped, and bloody battles were fought, the wandering Beda- 
win leads his flocks and pitches his tent. But the Handwriting 
of Grod is here, and the discerning eye of the traveler cannot 
fail to read it. Recall the fearful doom pronounced by the 
prophet Micah : I will make Samaria as an heap of the field 
and as plantings of a vineyard; and I loill pour doion the stones 
thereof into the valley^ and I will discover the foundations thereof. ''^ 
'Eow look about you and see the heaps of buried ruins, the 
vineyards and olive trees covering the site of ancient temples 
and palaces ; see how they have gathered up the stones from the 
rich soil and rolled them down into heaps into the valley below! 
Was there ever a more exact and literal fulfillment of a pro- 
phetic declaration? 

Passing down the hill, and through the village, we stopped 
to talk and bargain with the natives; they gathered around us, 
rude and boisterous, picked our pockets when they could get a 
chance — they stole from me two pocket-handkerchiefs — and 
made themselves so annoying we were glad to take our depart- 
ure. From Samaria we passed over a fertile portion of the 
country, leaving Dothan a little to the right, but crossing the 
rich pasture lands where the sons of Jacob led their flocks 
when Joseph followed them, and where they consummated 
their wicked designs for his ruin by first casting him into a pit, 
and after wads selling him to the Ishmaelites. We encamped 
for the night at Jenin, the ancient En-gannim, a Levitical city 
of Issachar, just at the opening of the great plain of Esdrselon, 
and on the northern border of Samaria. 

THE MOUNTAINS OP GILBOA. 

April 19th. A short ride over the plain northward, and we 
were winding around the western point of Gilboa. As we 
looked out over the naked ridge, the defeat of Saul and Jona- 
than, and the pathetic lament of David, were fresh in our minds. 
Saul was encamped at the base of these mountains, and the 
multitude of Philistines spread themselves over the plain. Saul, 



DEATH OF SAUL. 297 

the night before, had made his way over the opposite hills of 
Hermon to consult the witch of Endor, and his interview with 
the disturbed spirit of Samuel had not been such as to arouse 
any hope of victory. He returned disheartened to his camp, 
conscious that some terrible calamity was impending. As he 
sat that night in the midst of his camp, gloomy and dejected, 
the poet represents him as pronouncing his own doom : 

" My kingdom from me rent, my children slain, 
My army lost, myself from hope cast out — 
The seer hath spoken well. All is achieved. 
David, thou art avenged." 

In the morning the onset was made. The army of Israel 
was driven back upon these mountains of Gilboa. ^'The bat- 
tle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him." I am 
sore wounded; slay me," said he to his armor-bearer, "lest 
these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse 
me." But he would not lift up his hand against the Lord's 
anointed. Then Saul took a sword and fell upon it. The next 
day the Philistines found Saul and his three sons slain in Mount 
Gilboa. 

The news of this sad event was brought to David, who was 
already apprised that he was to be the successor in the honors 
of the kingdom. He had no feelings of malignity to be grati- 
fied in this untimely fate of one who had treated him with 
base cruelty and ingratitude, while to Jonathan his heart had 
been bound by ties of love and friendship such as earth seldom 
knows. His lament over their death is one of the most beau- 
tiful and pathetic ever put on record. The magnanimity and 
poetic tenderness of his nature rose superior to every feeling of 
revenge or ambitious rivalry. He mourned, wept and fasted 
for Saul and Jonathan his son, and the deep emotions of his 
heart found vent in the most passionate exclamations : 

" The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places ; 
How are the mighty fallen ! 

Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askalon, 
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, 
Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph ; 
Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, 



298 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Neither let there be rain upon you nor fields of offering ; 

Por there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, 

The shield of Saul as though he had not been anointed with oiL 

How are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle ! 

O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places ! 

How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished ! " 

RUINS OF ANCIENT JEZREEL. 

After reaching the base of Gilboa, a short ride brought us to 
Jezreel, now called Zerin, a village of about twenty wretched 
looking houses, built of mud and stone. It is upon a little em- 
inence in the midst of the plain, commanding an extensive and 
beautiful view. An old stone tower in the midst of the village 
attracted our attention as the most imposing object in the 
town. Its rooms have been thrown open to the sheep and 
goats, and they have herded here and climbed the stone stair- 
ways till the uppermost rooms are filled with their filth. We 
succeeded, by dint of hard climbing, in reaching the tower, 
where we remained for some time studying the localities of the 
various strange incidents that had transpired in this immediate 
vicinity. Here we looked out over the great Plain of Esdraelon, 
stretching away for miles in beauty and fertility towards the 
Mediterranean Sea. On the west was Carmel; on the north- 
west the hills of Gahlee, among the quiet vales of which Jesus 
spent his boyhood. 

This Plain of Esdrselon is one of the great battle-fields of the 
world. Its length is about eighteen miles, its breadth from 
twelve to fifteen miles. It is the ancient "Plain of Megiddo," 
and the numerous battles fought here is supposed to have sug- 
gested to the Apostle John his name of the battle-ground on 
which the last great conflict between the hosts of good and evil 
shall take place. He saw these powers gathered against each 
other into a place, called, in the Hebrew tongue, ^'Armageddon,'' 
that is, the " City of Megiddo^ 

Looking away across the plain towards Carmel, the base of 
which is washed by the river Kishon, our eye rested on the 
battle-field, where, more than three thousand years ago, Debo- 
rah and Barak overcame and made such terrible slaughter 
among the hosts of Sisera — the event that gave rise to the sub- 



DEATH OF JEZEBEL. 



299 



lime song of Deborah, in which the kings of Canaan fought by 
the waters of Megiddo, the stars in their courses fought against 
Sisera, and the river Kishon swept them away. Here, too, we 
looked out upon the field where ITecho, King of Egypt, en- 
camped on his way to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates. 
Josiah, King of Judah, rashly came up here and pitched battle 
with him, and here he received his death wound. On this 
plain the Crusaders have fought, and here, in still later times, 
JSTapoleon came to meet, in deadly strife, the Saracenic foe. 

i^ow let us turn and look down at our feet. On this very 
ground was once the proud capital of Samaria. Where these 
miserable Arab huts now stand, the place was once adorned by 
royal palaces ; and here was the court of that wicked woman 
Jezebel. Here was the vineyard of ^^aboth — it appears to me 
it would be easy to select the very spot, just upon the plain 
there that opens away toward the Jordan, and near the walls 
of the city. Jezebel's conspiracy against ]^aboth, his cruel 
murder, the seizure of his vineyard by the king, are all too 
well known to need rehearsal here. Jezebel thought that 
wealth and royalty might commit crime with impunity; but an 
omniscient God pronounced sentence against her by the mouth 
of his prophet : " The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel I ' 
It was not long after this that strange things were transpiring 
about this city; for great sins will provoke terrible judgments. 
There stood a watchman on a tower in Jezreel — I almost won- 
dered, as I read the account, if this tower on which we stood 
was not the very one — he saw a hostile company approaching 
the city, and '-the driving was like the driving of Jehu, the 
son of Mmshi; for he driveth furiously." And Joram, King 
of Israel, and Ahaziah, King of Judah, went out in haste to 
meet him. ''Is it peace, Jehu?" said Joram. "What peace," 
answered Jehu, "so long as the whoredoms of thy mother 
Jezebel, and her witchcrafts are so many ? " This cutting re- 
buke was followed by an arrow that pierced through the heart 
of Joram, and they threw him in contempt into the vineyard 
that his mother had obtained by the murder of its owner. And 
now the avenger, Jehu, was in the city. " Throw her down," 
said he, as he looked up and saw Jezebel in the palace window. 



300 



THE HOLY LAKD. 



Dashed upon the pavement, her blood was sprinkled upon the 
wall, and upon the horses, and they trampled her under foot ; 
and when the messengers came to bury her, the ravenous dogs 
had left only her skull, feet, and the palms of her hands ! We 
looked down upon the ground that witnessed the horrors and 
drank the blood of this awful tragedy, when our English 
friends proposed, in view of the contrast between their good 
queen Victoria and the bloody Jezebel, we should sing God 
save the Queen." How different from the wail of that dying- 
woman, were the strains of that old national anthem, as they 
floated away upon the breeze ! 

GIDEON'S WONDERFUL VICTORY. 

A few minutes more and we had started down the valley, 
close along the base of G-ilboa, to visit the fountain of Jezreel, 
where Gideon tried his army, and to ride over the field where 
his wonderful victory was achieved. The fountain is only a 
half hour's ride from J ezreel, and is now called Ain J alud. The 
water flows out from a large cavity at the base of Gilboa ; a 
wall has been erected to confine the waters, making an exten- 
sive pool, I should think two to three hundred feet broad, and 
twice as long ; from this it flows off in a clear, copious stream, 
toward the Jordan. It was just here that Saul was encamped 
with his army the night before the sad defeat that terminated 
so disastrously to himself and family. But if this has been the 
scene of a melancholy defeat, so has it also been of one of 
the most remarkable victories on record. It was in the days of 
the Judges, three thousand years ago. The enemies of Israel 
were the Midianites, Amalekites, and the children of the East. 
They crossed the Jordan, came up this valley, 'Mvith their 
cattle and their tents, and as grasshoppers for multitude." 
Then it was the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. 
Assured of the favor of God, he gathered an army of thirty- 
two thousand men and encamped on this side of the valley, 
while the hosts of the invaders lay along the opposite side. 
The Lord had a lesson to teach Israel of dependence and trust 
on him. The people that are with thee are too many ; who- 
soever is afraid let him depart." That simple test stripped 



THE YICTOKY OF 



FAITH. 



301 



Gideon of twenty-two thousand men, and he had but ten 
thousand left. " Bring them to the water," said the Lord, and 
by this fountain they stood. Another test, from the manner in 
which they drank, w^as apphed, and only three hundred men 
remained to Gideon, to subdue that countless host. 

Under cover of night he stole into the camp of the Midian- 
ites, and a man was relating to his fellow how^ he saw in his 
dream a barley loaf tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it 
smote a tent and overturned it. This dream was to Gideon an 
omen of good. Then came the singular stratagem of the 
pitchers, the trumpets, and the lamps, and the cry that carried 
consternation through all the ranks of the enemy : " The sword 
of the Lord and of Gideon." And the Midianites turned in 
their consternation and fought each other. The result was a 
total defeat, and they were driven back over the Jordan wdth 
a great slaughter. Judges viii. It was with peculiar interest 
I drank from the w^ater of this fountain, and rode over this 
wonderful battle-field ! Thirty centuries have passed away 
since it happened, but it still has its lessons of faith and trust 
in an overruling God. Feeble instrumentalities, used in faith 
and owned of God, may accomplish the most wonderful results. 

We now struck directly across the plain of Jezreel, here from 
four to five miles broad, reaching to the base of Little Hermon, 
"VYe stopped to take our noonday lunch at Shunem, now called 
Salem. "We cannot stop to rehearse the interesting event that 
here transpired in connection with the prophet Elisha. This is 
the place where " a great woman " built the " little chamber 
on the w^all," and here the prophet was entertained as he 
passed back and forth in his missions through the land. Her 
hospitality was afterwards rewarded by the restoration of her 
little son to life. 2 Kings, iv. 

We now passed around the western point of Little Hermon, 
and caught our first view of Mount Tabor, lifting its great 
oval form in majesty and beauty directly from the plain. One 
hour from Shunem we reached !N"ain, the village where our 
Savior met the funeral procession and raised the widow's son 
to life. From this we turned somewhat aside from our direct 
route, and in less than an hour we reached Endor, the home of 



302 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the witcli Saul came to consult the night before his death. It 
is now a village of some twenty miserable houses, perched upon 
the hill-side, far above the valley. One thing that struck me, 
both here and at I^ain, were the numerous caves excavated in 
the rocky hill-sides ; they have a wild and gloomy look, and I 
wondered if some of them were not the very ones mentioned 
in connection with the invasion of the Midianites, at the time 
of Gideon's battle, when the terrified Israelites made them- 
selves dens which are in the mountains, and caves and strong- 
holds." If witches are still to be found, I should certainly 
think they might be conjured up from those gloomy looking 
abodes. From Endor we turned back to our direct route, 
crossed the plain, passing a short distance from the base of 
Tabor, climbed over a rugged ridge of hills, and at 6 o'clock, 
after a long, laborious day, in which we had visited many 
points of interest, pitched our tents in 

THE CITY OF NAZARETH. 

April 20th. Here we are, in the old home of Joseph and 
Mary — the city where Jesus spent his early life. If you are 
disposed to ask, like one of old : Can any good thing come 
out of J^azareth ? " to the old question I would return the old 
answer : Come and see." We are to take a walk in the city, 
and the memory may be refreshed, and perhaps faith strength- 
ened, as we roam over the places where the Savior lived, walked, 
and taught. 

We have taken our breakfast under the shade of a venerable 
olive tree, close by the side of the great thoroughfare that 
leads from the city to a fountain near by, from which a great 
portion of the drinking water for the inhabitants is obtained. 
A throng of women are continually passing and repassing, 
with their waterpots poised upon their heads, just as they did 
when Jesus was a child Along this very path he has walked 
again and again with his mother, as she went to fill her 
pitcher; indeed, it is asserted by many, that it was at that 
very fountain the angel met her and made the strange an- 
nouncement : " Hail thou that art highly favored, the Lord is 
with thee; blessed art thou among women." Luke i. 28. 



THE HOUSE OF JOSEPH. 



303 



This place is now called the "Fountain of the Virgin," and 
the Greek Christians have a large structure near it, called the 
" Church of the Annunciation.^^ 

[N'azareth, as we may learn from scripture, is built upon a 
hill. Beneath it is a fertile valley, and high above, covered 
with foliage, and crowned with a little Moslem mosque, is the 
bold summit of the eminence, to the side of which it clings. 
It has a population of about four thousand, of which probably 
fifteen hundred are Greeks. The others are Latin Christians, 
Maronites and Mohammedans. The houses are of stone, sub- 
stantially built, and there is an air of thrift, enterprise and 
manliness about the town we had not seen in any other place 
since we left Jerusalem. We first visited the English Mission 
School, and were glad to find it in a flourishing condition. 
Among the children were a number whose parents were 
murdered in the recent massacre by the Druses. 

E"ext we turned our steps to the Latin Convent — a neat pile 
of buildings, inclosed with a massive stone wall. We took a 
hasty walk through several portions of the building, and then 
entered the church — the church that covers the ancient home 
of Joseph and Mary ! Service was being performed, and the 
familiar tones of the organ, and other accompaniments of 
worship, awakened thoughts of Christian lands. We waited 
till service had closed, when we descended from the main room 
of the building a broad flight of fifteen stone steps, into a 
grotto in the hill-side. In a portion of this grotto is a beauti- 
ful marble altar, beneath it a marble slab, ornamented with a 
cross. Here the Latins say the Virgin stood during the An- 
nunciation ! The whole interior of this sanctum and vestibule 
is encased with marble, ornamented with pictures, and hung 
with costly silver lamps. This is the " Holy Grotto " of I^aza- 
reth. From this grotto yon are taken back into still deeper 
recesses, where the cold, rough, rocky walls are left uncovered 
and unadorned. In one place a staircase leads to the Virgin 
Mary's Kitchen ! " 

From the convent and church we passed on up the hill a 
short distance, and were taken to the workshop of Joseph. 
This is also now transformed bv the Latins into a chapel. 
18 



304 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Here, they said, Jesus was accastomed to work with his father. 
Then we were taken to another building, said to be the syna- 
gogue in which Jesus read the scriptures on the Sabbath day. 
This is now owned by the Greeks, and has also been trans- 
formed into a Christian Church. It was from this synagogue 
that Jesus was led by his enraged fellow citizens to "the 
brow of the hill whereon the city was built," from which they 
intended to cast him down. I went out with one of my fellow 
travelers, the morning we left here, to see if we could find near 
by any precipitous place, of a hight sufficient to have answered 
the purpose of these murderous ITazarenes. The monks have 
located this place about two miles from the village, npon the 
brow of a steep precipice overhanging the plain. It is not 
likely, however, the place was so far from the town. Just in 
the suburbs of the town, a short distance above where our 
tents were pitched, we found a steep declivity that would 
answer all the requisitions of the scripture narrative. 

Having visited the principal places of interest in the city, 
we climbed the lofty hill in the rear of the town, to enjoy the 
extensive prospect that may there be had of the surrounding 
country. This view is said to be one of the finest in all Pales- 
tine. To say nothing of the picturesque hills and valleys just 
about you, the bold summit of Tabor, the snowy peaks of 
Hermon, the long, dark ridge of Carmel, the great plain of 
Esdrselon, and the distant waters of the Mediterranean, are all 
in view. But from these sublime prospects my own thoughts 
were continually reverting to the events that had transpired 
just at my feet. How I wished that we could know something 
more of the boyhood of the Savior ! Here was the home of 
his youth ; over these hills, and about these valleys, he wander- 
ed. Here he was obedient to the authority of his parents. 
From this place, when but twelve years old, his parents took 
him up to the temple at Jerusalem, where he astonished the 
learned doctors by the wisdom of his questions and answers. 
Here he increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with 
God and man. Here his mother marked these wonderful 
events and developments, and " pondered them in her heart." 
Here he was known only as the son of a carpenter, and here 



A SACRED MOUNTAIN. 



305 



his brethren and kindred lived ! What a strange life was that 
of Jesus ! At the age of thirty, from the obscurity of this vale 
of i^'azareth, he burst like a meteor's light upon the world. 
His career was a brief and humble one, confined to a small 
extent of territory, yet he kindled a light that is enveloping 
the world in glory ! We wonder at the strange things he 
w^rought ; but the rise, spread and power of his religion is a 
standing miracle, the greatest wonder of them all ! 

MOUNT TABOR. 

At 11 o'clock our visit to ^Tazareth was completed, and we 
were on our way to visit Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee. In 
a little less than two hours we reached the base of Tabor. We 
had passed near it and had a fine view of it on our way to 
I^"azareth, as we crossed a portion of the great plain from 
w^hich it rises, l^ow our road lay directly across its northern 
base, and on this route the traveler generally takes the oppor- 
tunity of ascending its summit. It projects from the south- 
eastern formation of the hills of Galilee. It is a grand and 
imposing object, an isolated mountain, between four and five 
miles in circumference at the base, rising like a great round- 
topped sugar loaf, 1,350 feet high; standing in lone and 
solemn grandeur, upon the great plain of Esdraelon, which 
forms its base. The ascent of this mountain is by a circuitous 
path, and occupies about one hour. It is richly adorned with 
verdure — oak trees, and various kinds of shrubbery, covering 
the top, while the sides are adorned with a great variety of 
beautiful flowers. On the summit are found piles of old ruins, 
the remnants of towns and fortifications that have existed 
here from the days of Joshua down to the devastations of the 
crusades, and from their day to this. 

The great beauty, and singular position and formation of 
Mount Tabor, would immortalize it, and, together with the 
fine view from its summit, attract many travelers to it. But it 
has other attractions. It is one of the sacred mountains of 
the Bible, and standing upon it, we see around us, and beneath 
us, the theatre of great and instructive events. It was at this 
mount, while the Canaanites were oppressing Israel, that Debo- 



306 



THE HOLY LAXD 



rah, by the direction of the Almighty, gathered ten thousand 
men under the command of Barak. Along the base of Carmel. 
by yonder Kishon, lay Jabin's army, an immense multitude, 
with, nine hundred chariots of iron, under the command of 
Sisera. At the given signal Barak descended from ^ft. Tabor, 
and Sisera, witli all his liosts, was smitten witli the edge of 
the sword. This signal triumph was celebrated by a mug of 
Deborah, the prophetess, renowned for its beauty and sublimity. 
Judges V. 

But not merely in ancient wars has this place been celebrated. 
Bonaparte himself visited Mount Tabor, and added another to 
the baptisms of blood this hill and plain have received. On this 
broad plain beneath our feet, a little more than fifty years ago, 
an immense Turkish army of fifteen thousand infantry and 
twelve thousand cavalry was drawn up in battle array. Kleber 
marched out from iSTazareth, about five miles distant, with three 
thousand men, and at once engaged in bloody strife with this 
tv:erdy -seven thousand! We cannot stop to describe the particu- 
lars of the bloody scene. Six dreadful hours Kleber and his 
handful of men fought against this fearful odds, piling around 
them heaps on heaps of slain. At this critical juncture, 
i^'apoleon is seen wheeling down from Tabor with another 
division of his men. The Turks were driven down upon the 
Jordan, where Murat charged upon them with his cavalry, and 
decided the fate of the day. 

And yet Tabor is not alone a mount of blood. It has wit- 
nessed other scenes that may well redeem it from these stains 
of human carnage. It has been gory from the blood of thous- 
ands slain : it has been covered with glory from the presence 
and'communion of heavenly visitants. Jesus, the Son of God, 
" took Peter, and James, and John, and went up into a high 
mountain apart," and Tabor was witness of a scene in which 
heaven and earth had a deeper interest than all other events 
that cluster about this sacred mount. TThile He was praying, 
the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment 
became white and glistering: and there appeared Moses and 
Elijah from Heaven, talking with him. Moses was the great 
lawgiver of Israel ; Elijah was the chief of all the prophets. 



THE MOUNT OF BEATITUDES. 



307 



Their missiou was now accomplished. In Christ, their great 
successor, the prophecies centered, in him the law was fullilled. 
IN'ow they came as the representatives of types, shadows, and 
prophetic predictions, to lay down their mission at the feet of 
Him w^ho was greater than them all ! The wondering disciples 
were overawed by the radiant glory of their master and the 
presence of the heavenly visitants — a cloud overshadowed them, 
and they feared as they entered into it, but there they caught 
such glimpses of the heavenly glory and angelic company they 
said, "Master, it is good for us to be here." 

TTe were now passing through the rich portion of coun- 
try formerly occupied by Zebulon. We cannot detain the 
reader by any definite descriptions of this part of Galilee. 
Our road wound throngh fertile vales, and along rocky hills. 
From Tabor to Tiberias is a ride of about five hours. Wind- 
ing down a steep rocky ridge, we came upon an old, dilapi- 
dated town, now called Kefr Kenna, supposed by many to be 
the Cana of Galilee, where Christ's first miracle — turning the 
water into wine — was performed. The Greeks have a little 
church and convent here, built, of course, on the site of the 
house where the marriage was performed ! A priest, in a 
Greek cap and long black robe, made his appearance at the, 
gate, and offered — for a backsheesh of course — to show us some 
of the veritable water-pots used on that memorable occasion ! 
. As we passed on v\^e rode over miles of rich pasture grounds, 
where not a house or inhabitant was to be seen, the rank grass 
growing to our horses' knees. Over these immense tracts the 
wild Bedawin roams, and occasionally a cluster of his low, black 
tents may be seen. As we approached the sea of Galilee we 
were passing a broad table-land of gentle undulations, and a 
little distance to our left rose up a saddle-shaped hill, known as 
the "Horns of Hattin." That mount is pointed out as the 
traditional place where our Lord delivered his sermon — the 
Mount of Beatitudes. It was a convenient and beautiful place 
for the assembling of the multitude, and I could not but picture 
in my imagination the scene, when the thousands gathered 
upon its green slopes, overawed by the majesty, and impressed 
with the authority of their strange and wonderful preacher. 



308 



THE HOLY LAND. 



As we passed on we were ridiDg over another celebrated bat- 
tle-field. In July, 1187, the King of Jerusalem assembled the 
fiower of the Christian army on this great plateau. A number 
of circumstances conspired to arouse the animosity, always 
strong between Moslems and Christians. Saladin with his Mo- 
hammedan hordes came up in immense numbers from the 
northern part of the Sea of Galilee. The Christian army was 
overpowered; a terrible slaughter ensued; the victory was a 
decisive one, and Saladin was master of the land — it was the 
end of the Crusaders' power in Palestine. 

On we rode, gradually ascending to the ridge of the lofty 
hills that overlook the sea. The summit was gained — all at 
once the coveted sight burst upon our view, and we looked 
down the steep slope upon the blue waters as they lay in calm- 
ness and beauty, in their deep basin of hills, nearly a thousand 
feet beneath us. We reigned in our horses, swung our hats in 
the air, and cheered for joy! 

The descent was rapid, in some places the path so steep, 
rocky and difficult, we dismounted and made our way on foot. 
The sun was dipping his disk below the western horizon, as we 
passed the ruined gateway of the old, dilapidated wall, and 
pitched our tents in the ancient city of Tiberias, a few rods 
from the shore of the sea. It was Saturday night, and we had 
made our arrangements to spend the Sabbath in this interesting 
locality. We lost no time in making preparations to make our 
stay as instructive and useful as possible. On these waters, 
where once so many fishermen plied their craft, but one solita- 
ry boat is now found ! We immediately dispatched our drago- 
man to make arrangements with the old Druse who owned it, 
to have it in readiness for us. We found it was at the foot of 
the lake, and it would take a half day to have it brought up. 
This would answer, as we wished for it on Monday morning to 
make an excursion to the head of the lake. 

THE CITY OF TIBERIAS. 

This is an old Roman town, and though lying in the imme- 
diate vicinity of the most interesting portions of the Savior's 
ministry, is not mentioned by him, nor have we any account 



1 

I 



i 








i 



OLD TIBERIx\S. 



311 



of its ever having been visited by him, probably from the fact 
that it was principally occupied by foreigners. It appears to 
have been built subsequent to the birth of Christ, and probably 
in the days of his preaching had not attained much distinction. 
The Eabbins say it was built on the site of the old city, Eak- 
keth, mentioned in Joshua. This new city subsequently be- 
came the capital of the province of Galilee. After the Jews 
were driven from Jerusalem they made this their headquarters ; 
the Sanhedrim was removed here ; here dwelt many of their 
most eminent Kabbis, and their tombs are still shown in the 
hill-side back of the town. Among these were the celebrated 
Maimonides, and Jochannan, author of the Gemara, or Jerusa- 
lem Talmud. 

The modern town is a wretched, dilapidated looking place, 
containing about two thousand inhabitants, eight hundred of 
whom, it is said, are Jews ; the others, Druses and Mohammed- 
ans. In 1837 the place was nearly destroyed by an earth- 
quake. Up to this time it was surrounded by a strong stone 
wall. In this calamity many of the houses were destroyed, 
great seams were left in the walls, and in some places they 
were so prostrated a horse could be rode over them, and no at- 
tempt has been made to rebuild them. The walls and houses 
are built of a black, volcanic stone, giving the place a dark and 
gloomy appearance. The inhabitants are poor, the streets nar- 
row and filthy, and lying as it does in a deep basin, six hun- 
dred feet below the Mediterranean, the sun pours upon them 
his scorching rays, giving them almost a tropical climate. The 
filth of the city affords a capital breeding place for vermin, and 
I was impressed with the fact, mentioned by so many travelers, 
that the king of fleas holds his court in Tiberias. 

On Sunday morning the most of our company went out to 
perform their ablutions in the warm baths near the town. 
They are situated upon the sea-shore, only about fifteen min- 
utes' walk from the walls. The level strip of ground along the 
shore was once covered by the old town, and portions of ruined 
walls and fragments of columns are strewn all along the way. 
The bath-house is a neat little structure, built from the ruins of 
the old town. In the center of the main room is a large mar- 



312 



THE HOLY LAND. 



ble reservoir, capable of swimming from twenty to thirty per- 
sons at a time. Into this is constantly pouring a copious stream 
that gushes from the hill-side. This water has a temperature 
of 144° Fahr., so warm that when one first plunges the hand 
into it, it feels burning hot. It is extremely salt and bitter, and 
emits a strong sulphurous smell. These baths are considered 
efficacious in rheumatic complaints, cutaneous eruptions, and 
various other diseases. They are very much resorted to by the 
natives, and we found around them, like the Pool of Bethesda 
in the days of the Savior, a great multitude of impotent folks. 
I looked upon the great smoking bath-tub, upon the imbecile 
multitude that were coming and going, and turned away to 
make my bath in the pure, sweet waters of the lake, leaving 
my companions to boil themselves in the polluted w^aters, with 
the diseased multitude, till they w^ere satisfied. 

A SUNDAY AT GALILEE. 

Breakfast was over, and we had a Sabbath day to spend 
about the shores of this beautiful lake, hallowed by so many 
interesting incidents in the life of the Savior. There were no 
Christian temples here, no assemblies of saints to invite us to 
devotion ; yet what Christian could look upon this amphitheatre 
of hills, and not feel that here was a glorious temple for wor- 
ship ? Who could listen to the murmur of these waters, and 
not feel the kindlings of devout and enthusiastic aspirations? 

This sea was one of the favorite resorts of the Savior, and 
on its shores he made his home. It was by these waters he 
walked, in the early part of his ministry, when he saw Andrew 
and Peter casting their nets into the sea, and that strange call 
fell upon their ears: ^'Follow me, and I will make you fishers 
of men!" It was on the slope of these beautiful hills Jesus 
came and sat down, and the lame, blind, dumb and maimed were 
laid at his feet, and felt his healing power, and the astonished 
multitude glorified God! It was on the opposite banks of this 
sea he had compassion on the famishing multitude, and multi- 
plied the loaves and the fishes, till the assembled thousands 
were satisfied ! It was down that steep bank that is now with- 
in our sight the crazy herd of swine, under the influence of the 



A SEASON or WOK SHIP. 



313 



evil spirits that had been cast out of the Gadarene, plunged 
into the sea ! It was on these waters Jesus slept, while the 
frail bark that bore him and his disciples was endangered by 
the fury of the tempest ; when the terrified disciples aroused 
him from his slumbers: ^'Lord, save us, we perish;" and here 
it was he arose, rebuked their lack of faith, and in the calm 
majesty of Omnipotent power, laid his hand upon the furious 
elements, and hushed them to peace ! And, again, it was on 
these waters, in the lone hour of night, tossed by the waves and 
driven out of their course by contrary winds, the disciples were 
astonished by the sudden and miraculous appearance of their 
Lord, walking upon the water and saying : " Be of good 
cheer; it is I; be not afraid." It was on these shores the lone 
and afflicted disciples, after the crucifixion, pressed for the ne- 
cessities of life, gathered together and betook themselves to 
their old occupation ; and it was while here engaged that their 
risen master appeared standing upon the shore, and attested 
his presence and character by the miraculous draught of fishes ! 
What numerous associations conspire to embalm this lake in 
the memory of the Christian ! 

At 11 o'clock, by previous agreement, our little company as- 
sembled in an upper room of one of the old deserted watch- 
towers of the wall that overlooked the sea, for a season of social- 
worship. Each one selected a portion of Scripture narrating 
some incident in the life or teachings of the Savior connected 
with these waters; these were read in turn, intermingled with 
prayer and singing. With what deep interest we read these 
narratives, and with what life and power they seemed invested, 
as we looked out upon the localities where they transpired. 
As our eyes rested upon the sloping hills, covered with verdure, 
where the multitudes gathered about Jesus, one read the ac- 
count of the feeding of that multitude with the few loaves and 
fishes ; as we looked across the sea upon the hills of Gadara, 
another read the account of the healing of the man possessed 
with devils, and the destruction of the swine; then we looked 
down upon the placid waters of the sea, while another read the 
story of Peter, as Christ came by night walking on the water. 
Thus we spent the hours of worship, feeling that we were 



314 



THE HOLY LAND. 



nearer than ever to Him whose words and deeds transcend all 
human wisdom and power. 

As the shades of evening gathered over the land, I wandered 
along the shore, and climhed upon the hills to muse, alone, 
upon the strange events that had embalmed this sea and its 
surroundings in the memory and affections of the believer. I 
remembered how the Savior, after that day of toil in which he 
had taught and fed the multitudes, sent them away, and then 
departed by himself into a mountain alone to pray, continuing 
nearly all night in this blessed communion with holy beings. 
Here I was in the midst of that very scenery, where 

" Cold mountain vapors and the midnight air 
Witnessed the fervor of his prayer." 

What a hallowed place! As the shades of night deepened 
upon me, I tarried still, for I felt more than ever that it was 
blessed, in the midst of these hallowed associations, to shed the 
penitential tear, to cast my soul upon that Savior, and plead the 
promises of Him who, in the days of his flesh, disturbed the 
calm stillness of the night, and woke these mountain echoes 
with his voice of prayer. 

OHORAZIN, BETHSAIDA AND CAPERNAUM. 

Monday, April 22d. At 6 o'clock we were afloat upon the 
waters for an excursion to the head of the sea, to visit the site 
of the old cities that existed here in the days of the Savior. 
The boat, as we have said, was the only one upon the sea ; it 
was a miserable old worn-out thing, large enough to hold fif- 
teen to twenty persons, and so leaky it kept one person con- 
stantly bailing. It had a small, movable mast, with an old 
lateen sail, but as there was no wind, we had to depend upon 
the oars alone. Of these there was but one pair, worked by a 
couple of indolent fellows, who moved as if the amount of their 
wages depended upon the length of time to which they could 
protract the voyage. The owner of the boat, a tall, dignified 
looking old Druse, his head adorned with the great white tur- 
ban that distinguishes his sect, accompanied us as steersman. 



ON THE SEA OE GALILEE. 



315 



For this outfit to take us to the head of the lake, about six 
miles and back, we paid about eight dollars and a half. 

The Sea of Galilee, or Lake of Tiberias, is a beautiful sheet of 
clear, sweet water, of an irregular oval shape, broadest towards 
the north end. It is not over fourteen, some say not more 
than twelve miles long, and between eight and nine broad in 
the broadest part. The depth in some places exceeds one 
hundred and fifty feet. It lies embosomed in lofty hills, the 
rich, sloping sides of which are covered with vegetation. It 
still abounds in fish, but the fishermen have mostly disappeared 
from its shores. I saw no person while I was there engaged in 
this employment. As the Christian feels that almost every spot 
upon these shores is "holy ground," so he feels that these are 
consecrated waters. With what vividness those scenes in the 
life of the Savior came home to us, as we rode over the waters 
upon which Jesus -walked, and whose tumultuous waves he 
hushed to peace. 

" Graceful around thee the mountains meet, 
Thou calm, reposing sea; 
But ah ! far more, the beautiful feet 
Of Jesus walked o'er thee." 

We inquired of the old helmsman if he had ever been out in 
storms on this sea. "Yes, often." "Are they dangerous?" 
said 1. "Yery," said he. "I have been a sailor, and would 
rather be on the ocean in a storm than here." " Why ? " said I. 
" The wind comes suddenly whirling down over these hills, and 
blows every way, and the waves roll in every direction." "And 
what do you do at such times?" said I. "Hold on the helm 
and let the boat run which way it will," said he. How much, 
thought I, like the condition of the disciples on that stormy 
night, when Jesus so miraculously came to them: "The ship 
was in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the winds ivere 
contrary.'^ Mat. xiv. 24. 

As we neared our destination, we could see upon the western 
shore the Plain of Genesaret — a beautiful and fertile tract — 
while in one place, nestling close under the hill-side, a few Arab 
huts mark the site of Magdala, the supposed home of the Mary, 



316 



THE HOLY LAND. 



who so gratefully acknowledged the healing power of the Sa- 
vior. Between 10 and 11 o'clock we landed near the ruins of 
Tell Hum, the supposed site of ancient Capernaum. 

"We made our way through the tall, rank weeds, that here 
every where cover the soil, and soon reached the spot, l^ot a 
single building is now left standing. Piles of great hewn stone 
lie scattered about; the massive foundations of ruined struc- 
tures can still be seen ; while the shafts of ancient columns, and 
beautiful marble capitals of fine Corinthian sculpture, are min- 
gled with the ruins and half-buried in the earth. The tangled 
thicket of enormous weeds and thistles grow high over them 
all, and nearly conceal them from sight. 'No road passes near 
them, seldom does human foot visit them, and the wild Arab 
has such a superstitious dread of the place, he turns aside and 
refuses to walk over the place ! Yet here was once a populous 
city, and about it one of the most populous portions of the 
land, while near by were many other cities and towns. 

To this place, when Jesus' own kindred had expelled him 
from I^azareth, he came; in Capernaum he dwelt, and it was 
called " his own city.'' Here in the synagogue he was accus- 
tomed to teach, and in that synagogue he healed the demoniac 
that cried out against him. Here he entered Peter's house, and 
found his mother-in-law sick of a fever, and immediately re- 
stored her to health. Here he healed the paralytic man whose 
friends tore up the roof of the house, that they might let him 
down into his presence; here he cured the centurion's servant, 
and raised Jairu's daughter from the dead. Prom here he sent 
his disciples down to the sea to take a fish from the water, in the 
mouth of which they found the tribute money. In Capernaum 
he often preached, and how many and how instructive the les- 
sons- that fell from his lips! linear by was Chorazin and Beth- 
saida, and it was in these cities and this vicinity that ^'most of 
his mighty works loere done'' Alas, how changed — how fallen — 
how ruined ! It is difficult to conceive a more gloomy desola- 
tion and utter ruin than has settled down upon these places. I 
inquired for the site of Chorazin and Bethsaida, and none 
could tell me where they stood ! I climbed upon the fragment 
of a broken column, and looked inquiringly about me. Was 



THE DOOM OF CHOKAZIN. 317 

this beautiful shore once ornamented with populous cities? 
Where now this oppressive silence reigns, was there once heard 
the hum of multitudes of voices, and the tumult of gathering 
crowds ? "Why then has this utter ruin and desolation settled 
down upon the land? I opened my Bible, and the mystery was 
solved. Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most 
of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. "Wo 
unto thee, Chorazin! wo unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the 
mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in 
Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sack- 
cloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable 
for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And 
thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt he brought 
down to hell; for if the mighty works which have been done in 
thee had been done in Sodom, it w^ould have remained until 
this day." And is this the spot upon which the fearful doom 
has fallen ? 

" Tell me, ye moldering fragments, tell, 
Was the Savior's city here ? 
Lifted to heaven, has it sank to hell, 
"With none to shed a tear ? " 

How literally and remarkably the words of the Savior have 
been fulfilled! How, upon these extinct and ruined cities, 
these depopulated plains, he has written with his own hand the 
impressive lessons of his overruling providence, his certain 
and terrible judgments! 

Our visit among these ruins over, we made all haste back to 
Tiberias, for our tents and baggage had gone on to E"azareth, 
and we must return there before we slept. At 2 o'clock our 
excursion was over. We waited for one more bath in the clear, 
refreshing waters, when, mounting our horses, we were soon 
upon the lofty summit of the hill, from which we turned, and 
took our last farewell view of its tranquil waters. The words 
of M'Cheyne we could adopt as our own : 

" How pleasant to me thy deep blue wave, 
O sea of Galilee, 
For the glorious One who came to save, 
Have often stood by thee. 



318 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Fair are the lakes in the land I love, 

Where pine and heather grow ; 
But thou hast loveliness above 

What nature can hestow." 

It was nearly an hour after dark wtien we reached our tents 
at JSTazareth, weary with our long, laborious day's labor, but 
gratified that we had been able to visit so many places inti- 
mately connected with the life and labors of Jesus. To-mor- 
row we are to leave iN'azareth,' and continue our excursion by 
Mount Carmel and the scene of Elijah's sacrifice to the shore 
of the Mediterranean Sea. 




Mount Carmpl. 



APPKOACH TO CAEMEL. 



321 



CHAPTER XI. 

From ISTazareth to Beirut — Mount Carmel— Tyre — Sidon — 
Conclusion of our Tour in Palestine. 

April 2Sd. By 7 o'clock our breakfast was over and we were 
in our saddles, ready to bid farewell to the pleasant vale of ITaza- 
reth. It is, indeed, a retired, quiet and beautiful place — a fit 
retreat it must have been for the holy family," who, on their 
return from Egypt, still feared the murderous anger of the suc- 
cessor of that Herod who had filled Pamah with weeping and 
lamentation. We climbed the long, rugged range of hills that 
separates this beautiful valley from Esdrselon, and were soon 
passing over that extensive plain. 

About 11 o'clock we reached the base of Carmel, another ^f 
the sacred mountains of Scripture, and intimately connected 
with the history of the prophet Elijah. Carmel is not a single 
round-topped peak, rising in lone majesty like Tabor, but a 
long ridge branching off from the northern end of the moun 
tains of Samaria. It runs in a northwesterly direction, and 
terminates in a bold, high bluff", the projecting top of which 
overhangs, and the huge base of which is washed by the waters 
of the Mediterranean. This ridge is about eighteen miles in 
length, its breadth about five miles, while it rises nearly two 
thousand feet above the sea. Well, says one, does it deserve 
its name, " The Park," or " The Fruitful Field ? " Its wooded 
hights and picturesque green dells, descending on one side into 
the rich plains of Akka, and on the other to the beautiful vale 
of Sharon, present some of the most beautiful and park-like 
scenery in Palestine." The excellency of Carmel" is put by 
Isaiah by the side of the glory of Lebanon, and the withering 



322 



THE HOLY LAND. 



of its foliage, and the shaking off of its fruits, is made a type 
of national desolation. 

Elijah's sacrifice. 

The place where we approached the mountain was near the 
scene of that striking event in the life of Elijah, that brought 
apostate Israel back to the acknowledgment of the living 
God. 1 Kings xviii. Tradition points out the very spot where 
the altar was erected and the strange events transpired, and 
the tradition seems to be well sustained. It is called El Mura- 
kah, " the Sacrifice.'^ Our company, wishing to visit the spot, 
hired an extra guide from one of the small Arab villages of the 
plain. Fatigued by the heat and labor of the previous day, I 
did not feel able to endure the extra toil of ascending the 
mountain, and so contented myself with riding on with the 
baggage train the nearest way to the place of our encampment 
for the night. 

The mountain is covered with a forest of short scrubby oaks, 
and a dense undergrowth of hawthorn, myrtle and acacia. A 
vast variety of wild flowers are scattered along its sides, and 
fragrant herbs perfume the air. Along its base flows the 
waters of the Kishon, mentioned in Judges in connection with 
the victory achieved by Deborah and Barak over the forces of 
Sisera. " The stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The 
river Kishon swept them away, that ancient river Kishon. 
Here we were upon this noted plain — the great battle-field 
where Phonecians and Philistines, Jews and Gentiles, Ass^^ians 
and Persians, Crusaders and Saracens, Turks, Arabs and Franks, 
had in turn fought their bloody battles; and now we bathed our 
horses' feet in that ancient river, that had, through a succession 
of three thousand years, been reddened with the blood of all 
these different nations. 

As we passed along the base, we looked up the mountain 
slope to the place where Elijah reared up the demolished altar 
of God, and fire out of heaven consumed his sacrifice. Upon 
a rocky projection overhanging the plain, amid thickets of ev- 
ergreen, is a terrace of natural rock, where the ruins of an old 
building are scattered about in every direction; great hewn 



OAR MEL AND ELIJAH. 



323 



stones are seen, indicating the existence, at some former time, 
of a great superstructure. These ruins mark the place of the 
sacrifice, while a fountain near by probably furnished the 
twelve barrels of water with which Elijah's offering was 
deluged. 

Ahab and Jezebel had turned the hearts of Israel away from 
the Lord, and on this spot an idolatrous altar had been conse- 
crated to Baal. God's altar had been thrown down, his prophets 
slain, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the nation. 
Three years and six months the drought had consumed the 
land ; the grass withered upon these fertile plains, the fountains 
of water were dried up, and famine showed his lean and wasted 
visage in the very court of the king. During all this time of 
distress, Elijah, though a reward had been offered for his life, 
had been taken care of, first by the ravens at the brook Cherith, 
and then from the unfailing cruse of oil and barrel of meal of 
the widow of Sarepta. And now the time had come for him 
to show himself again at the court of Ahab, for afflictions had 
humbled the haughty king and queen. "Art thou he," said 
Ahab, "that troubleth Israel?" "I have not troubled Israel," 
was the answer, "but thou and thy father's house, in that ye 
have forsaken the commandments of the Lord. E'ow gather 
me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four 
hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the grove four hundred, 
which eat at Jezebel's table." 

Kow look upon the mighty concourse assembled upon the 
mountain slope above us ! "We have seen the desperate con- 
flicts that have stained the plains at our feet with blood ; about 
that altar is now to take place a contest, in which a more im- 
portant question is to be settled than any these great battles 
had ever decided. " How long," said Elijah, " halt ye between 
two opinions ; if the Lord be God, serve him ; if Baal, serve 
him." I^ow they stand face to face, four hundred and fifty of 
the prophets of Baal ; Elijah alone of all that was left of the 
prophets of the Lord. " He whose God can answer by fire let 
him be God." And all the people said, "It is well." And 
now the prophets of Baal prepare their sacrifice, surround their 
altar, and from morning until noon cry : " Baal, hear us ! " 



324 



THE HOLY LAND. 



But there is no answer. Then the taunts and irony of the old 
prophet only quicken their earnestness ; they leap upon the altar 
and cut themselves with knives; but neither their much speak- 
ing or their loud speaking availed any thing. The time of the 
evening sacrifice came, and their god was deaf to all their cries. 

Then Elijah took twelve stones, a stone for a tribe, and re- 
paired the broken-down altar of God, laid the wood and the 
sacrifice in order, and that all cavil might be silenced, and the 
miracle undeniable, ordered the whole to be deluged with 
twelve barrels of water. And now he stands beside the altar 
and stretches his hands toward heaven. With breathless 
silence eight hundred and fifty idolatrous priests, Ahab and 
his court, and the gathered thousands of Israel, await the 
result. Elijah is no priest; will God hear his prayer? Carmel 
is far away from the place God hath chosen to record his 
name, and has never been sanctified with ark, tabernacle or 
temple; will Jehovah now vindicate his name and answer by 
fire ? How often my imagination has pictured that breathless 
multitude awaiting with intense interest the result of that one 
intercession ! And now that I stand gazing upon the spot, 
how vividly the whole scene rises up before me. "What an 
awful moment was that to the prophet of God ! His own life, 
the glory of God, the truth and purity of religion, a nation's 
salvation, were all staked upon the result ! Elijah, darest thou 
now open thy lips? "With calm and holy utterance the man of 
God breaks the death-like silence. ''Lord God of Abraham, 
Isaac, and of Israel, let it he known this day that thou art God in 
Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these 
things at thy word. Hear me, Lord, hear me, that this people may 
know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their 
heart back again.'' And the breath of the Almighty kindled 
the fire ; the wood, the sacrifice, the altar, and the water about 
it were all consumed; while the overawed and trembling 
multitudes fell upon their faces and cried out : The Lord he is 
the God ; the Lord he is the God ! " Down this moun- 
tain side, where we are now standing, that same prophet 
brought the priests of Baal, and this river Kishon was crim- 
soned with their blood! The name of God was vindicated. 



ELIJAH'S PEAYER. 



327 



Then followed that memorable season of intercession, when 
the prophet ascended the mountain to a spot that overlooked 
the sea, and cast himself upon the earth and put his face be- 
tween his knees, and prayed for rain with a fervor and effect 
that led the apostle, near a thousand years afterwards, to quote 
it as an evidence that the " effectual fervent prayer of a right- 
eous man availeth much/' The drouth was broken. " Get 
thee up, eat and drink," said Elijah to Ahab, for there is a 
sound of abundance of rain." From the base of the mountain 
at this place to Jezreel is about twelve miles, and thither Ahab 
returned and ''told Jezebel all that Elijah had done." 

Our route lay along the base of Carmel toward the Mediter- 
ranean. The plain of Esdr?elon terminates toward the sea in 
the plain of Akka or Acre. A ridge of hills separates them, 
and they connect by a narrow pass near the base of Carmel, 
through which we passed, sometimes wading in the waters of 
the Kishon. It is a very fertile plain, and here the tribe of 
Asher once dwelt, enjoying the fulfillment of the promise : he 
"dipped his foot in oil;" his ''bread was fat, and he yielded 
royal dainties." 

About 3 o'clock we pitched our tents upon the white sandy 
beach of the Mediterranean, just without the dilapidated waUs 
of the modern city of Haifa, supposed to occupy the site of 
the ancient Greek city St/camimim, and close to the base of the 
bold promontory of Carmel, its lofty summit crowned by the 
towering walls of one of the finest convents in all Palestine. 
The portion of our company that ascended Carmel, made their 
way along the ridge, and did not get in till near 9 o'clock ; 
they were nearly exhausted with fatigue, having been about 
thirteen hours in the saddle. 

CONVENT or CARMEL. 

April 24//?. Our first business this morning was a visit to 
the convent that crowns the bold promontory of Carmel. This 
promontory, as here seen from the sea, is one of the boldest 
and most imposing sights on all the coast. It rises abruptly, 
almost perpendicularly, from the shore, to the hight of near 
two thousand feet. Its form is that of a sharp, narrow ridge, 



328 



THE HOLY LAND. 



descending abruptly on one side to the plain of Acre towards 
our tents, on the other towards the plain of Sharon. The 
convent, the monks claim, is built over a grotto in the rocks, 
once the dwelling place of the prophet Elijah, which from his 
time onward has been occupied by a continual succession of 
the faithful. This convent, like others of the land, has had its 
sad reverses. l!^"apoleon made it a hospital for his soldiers in 
his siege of Acre ; and after he left it, it w^as plundered by the 
Turks. In 1821 it was blown up by Abdallah Pasha, and was 
afterwards rebuilt by the indefatigable labors of one man, Jean 
Battista. He gave himself unremittingly to the effort, begged 
through Europe, Asia, and Africa, and at last saw the comple- 
tion of his labors, rejoicing in the fact that the Grotto of Elijah 
was covered by the finest convent in all Palestine — erected at a 
cost of half a million of francs ! 

The monks have contrived to grade a comfortable road up 
the steep ascent, so that one can ascend to the summit on 
horseback. We were shown through the building, the princi- 
pal attraction of which is the Grotto, and the rich chapel that 
now covers it, occupying the centre of the building. If Elijah 
had any taste for the grand, sublime and beautiful, I do not 
wonder that he selected the bold bights of Carmel for one of 
his favorite resorts. The sublimity of its mountain bights ; the 
tumultuous sea, whose wild, angry waves foam around its base ; 
the beautiful plains that stretch far away upon the right and 
left, clothed in luxuriant foliage, to one who could look upw^ard 
unto God, would all conspire to fill the soul with devout and 
lofty emotions. The Carmelite monks are noted for their hos- 
pitality, and the good cheer they furnish the weary traveler ; 
and though it is all without charge, they expect a liberal back- 
sheesh, amply sufficient to indemnify for all expense and 
trouble. This putting a man upon his own nobility and sense 
of honor, is often the most sure and direct method of emptying 
his purse. 

I^ear the northern base of the hill is shown the cave, twenty 
feet by eighteen, where it is said Elijah received the chiefs of 
the people, known as the "Cave of the Sons of the Prophets." 
Upon this mount there is also a field abounding in singular 



A SINGULAK STORY. 



329 



petrifactions resembling fruits. The story of their origin, 
though an old and oft-repeated one, is too good to be lost. A 
stingy, churlish Israelite, had here, in Elijah's tinae, a fine, pro- 
ductive orchard. The prophet, weary, hungry and oppressed 
with thirst, was passing by. "Allow me," said he, "to par- 
take of a little of your excellent fruit? " "Fruit, old fellow ? " 
said the crabbed owner ; " you are quite mistaken, those are 
nothing but stones." "Many a true word is spoken in jest," 
said the prophet, and on he went. What was the astonish- 
ment of the parsimonious gardener to find his words verified ; 
and to this day his stone fruit lies scattered over the grounds, 
a perpetual monitor to every one who visits the place. 

CITY OF ACRE. 

Leaving our encampment at the base of Carmel, we now 
turned our faces once more northward, for a tour along the 
sea shore. "We have now visited the prominent places of inte- 
rest connected with Biblical events, and shall hasten with 
greater rapidity to Beirut. We forded the Kishon, or rather 
waded around it by keeping upon the sand bar at its mouth, 
some distance in the sea. It was with difficulty we got through, 
for we had almost to swim our horses, A delightful ride of 
about ten miles, along the beautiful white sands of the shore, 
brought us to St. Jean de Acre. Just before reaching this place 
we forded a small stream — the Belus of ancient geography. It 
is said by Pliny it was on the banks of this stream the art of 
making glass was first made known. 

This city has an eventful history, reaching back more than 
a thousand years before Christ. Having one of the best 
harbors on the coast, and being, as N'apoleon called it, the key 
of Palestine, it has been one of Syria's great battle-fields. 
Many a time it has been besieged, sacked and plundered, the 
last being the bombardment by the British fieet under Ad- 
miral I^apier, in 1840, of which many portions of the city 
still give evidence. The population and importance of the 
place have been dwindling, until it now contains only about 
five thousand inhabitants, a mixture of Moslems, Druses, 
Christians and Jews. The city still has a strong wall upon the 



330 



THE HOLY LAND. 



land side, and massive fortifications next the sea. Huge guns 
were mounted upon the walls, and looking through the port- 
holes, and Turkish soldiers were loitering about them. W^e 
passed the ponderous gateway, kept by armed sentinels, walked 
through the bazars, and wandered about the streets. In this city 
a large portion of the Crusaders landed, and here, as late as 1291, 
was the seat of the order of the Knights of St. John, from 
which the city has its name. But a few remnants of ancient 
buildings can now be identified, among which are a small 
chapel, once a part of the church of St. Andrew, the Hotel of 
the Knights' Hospitalers, now the military hospital, and the old 
church of St. John. The Pasha sent an officer to show us the 
fortifications, and we were allowed to ascend the embankments. 
Every thing has an old and dilapidated look, and the stamp 
of negligence and decay is on all you see. We visited an old 
mosque, once evidently a magnificent and costly building, but 
now rapidly going to ruin. In the court of this mosque is 
the tomb of El Jezzar, a tyrant renowned for his atrocity, 
extreme cruelty to his subjects, and many terrible deeds of 
blood, one of them, the cold blooded assassination, in a fit of 
jealousy, of fifteen beautiful women of his harem ! After our 
visit to the cit}^, we passed on three or four miles, and encamped 
upon the plain near a beautiful and extensive orange grove, the 
blossoms of which filled the air with their fragrance. Within 
the grove was a beautiful residence of the governor of the 
city, and near by the ruins of an ancient aqueduct, the lofty and 
crumbling arches attesting its former magnificence. We passed 
a comfortable night, unconscious, however, of the close proxim- 
ity of the dangerous tenants of the rocks among which we had 
pitched our tents, for on rising in the morning our dragoman 
found a scorpion in his bed, and one of my companions another 
in the leg of his pants. 

Apinl 2bth. We were early in our saddles, galloping over the 
rich plain of Acre toward Tyre, where we expect to spend the 
night. Palestine boasts no richer portions of country than the 
plain of Acre. Cultivated, it produces the most luxuriant 
crops ; neglected, it grows the rankest weeds, while now, over 
many portions of it the wandering Bedawin roams. We were 



APPEOACH TO TYRE. 



331 



now passing over the country and home of the ancient Phoe- 
nicians, "the Anglo Saxon's of antiquity.'" They were an 
enterprising, commercial people, filling a large place in the 
history of ancient civilization. They were early acquainted 
with the art of navigation, and their ports were marts of im- 
mense trade for those early days. Fifteen hundred years 
before Christ, the Israelites settled in Palestine, and soon after, 
their association with this ancient people commenced. The 
influence they exerted upon each other in religion, civilization 
and trade, must have been very great. Even in the times of 
the Judges, " Great Zidon " and the Zidonians are mentioned as 
familiarly known. When Solomon, 1000 B. C, built the temple, 
Hiram, King of Tyre, was intimately associated with him. 
These Phoenicians were no doubt familiar with the whole 
coast of the Mediterranean sea, they traversed the Egean sea, 
and are supposed to have formed settlements for trading and 
mining upon some of its islands. The Greeks learned and 
borrowed much from the Phoenicians. It is said they received 
from them the art of writing, and many of their religious 
notions. 

LADDER OF TYRE. 

An hour's ride brought us opposite Achzib, a town given to 
Asher, but which that tribe were never able to conquer. Leb- 
anon pushes its long range down towards this plain, and soon, 
along its sloping sides, we could see the numerous modern 
villages and extensive olive groves. This spur of Lebanon 
terminates in a bold promontory called the ^'Ladder of Tyre.' 
Over this promontory a zig-zag road wound its way, and we 
had some hard climbing among its rocky ranges. The " White 
Cape," as it is called, was a majestic and frightful looking 
place. It is a white, chalky ridge, projecting from the moun- 
tain side to the sea. Over this promontory we had to climb, 
our road sometimes nothing but steps cut or worn in the rock, 
while often we could look down the frightful precipice upon 
the dashing waves as they broke in white sheets of foam far 
beneath our feet. Upon the summit of this difficult pass are 
the ruins of an old stone structure, called " The Candle Tower." 



332 



THE HOLY LAND. 



It was built in ancient times for the defense of this road, and 
a handful of men stationed here could defend the way against 
a numerous army. 

The "Ladder" passed, we were again clattering along a 
rough, stony plain. On this plain we passed some remarkable 
fountains and reservoirs, known as the "Fountain Head." 
They mark the site of old FalcBtyrus, " Old Tyre." There are 
four large fountains near together, the water gushing up with 
great force from the bottom of artificial reservoirs. One of 
these reservoirs is built in octagonal form, sixty-six feet in 
diameter, and twenty-five feet high, the wall eight feet thick 
upon the top, and the sides sloping at such gentle angle, one 
can ride his horse to the summit. The stones are carefully 
joined together, and finely cemented. The water from this 
cojdIous fountain is now used to turn a mill. These fountains 
are now embowered in beautiful groves of willow and fruit 
trees, and surrounded by a luxuriant growth of vegetation. 
The remains of old aqueducts may still be seen, by which these 
waters were carried in different directions ; one of them runs 
two miles to a mound, and some massive ruins of an old stone 
structure. It is said there has long been a popular belief that 
the waters of these remarkable fountains are brought from a 
great distance by a subterranean canal, some ascribing the work 
to Alexander the Great, some to Solomon. From this source 
ancient Tyre was no doubt supplied with water. 

TYRE. 

"We spent some time wandering about these wonderful wells 
and cisterns, after which we had about an hour's ride to reach 
the city. From Acre to Tyre is eight and a half hours' ride. 
Just at sunset we pitched our tents without the walls, and close by 
the side of the gate leading into this renowned and ancient city ! 
It formerly stood upon an island; afterwards a narrow bridge, 
known as Alexander's causeway, led to this gate. The sands 
have so filled in upon this side of the city, that what was once 
an island, has been converted into a low, sandy peninsula, not 
more than ten to fifteen feet above the sea, and connected to 
the main land by a neck at least half a mile broad. The old 



AlSr OLD CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 333 

walls are in a wretched, dilapidated condition; next the sea they 
have mostly disappeared, and on the land side they have fallen 
down in many places, and no attempts are made to repair them. 

To one who has formed his opinion of these ancient Phoeni- 
cian seaports from the glowing descriptions of them in ancient 
history, there is a feeling of sadness and disappointment as he 
wanders about them. They are not what they once were. We 
spent a couple of hours in the evening and a portion of the 
morning in wandering about the place, and meditating among 
the ruins. The modern town contains from three thousand to 
four thousand inhabitants. The houses are some of them of 
stone, and substantially built, but most of them are mere hov- 
els; the streets are narrow, crooked and filthy; the more sub- 
stantial buildings and the towers and walls have been shattered 
by the earthquakes that, at difterent times, have rocked the 
foundations of the place, while the ancient harbors have been 
filled up with sand and rubbish. We were particularly inter- 
ested in wandering along the sea, and marking the fragments 
of huge stone structures, and the numerous massive columns 
that lie scattered in the sea, and that have been worn and 
washed through many long years by the dashing waves. Many 
nations have left here the remnants of their ancient works. 
Phoenicians, Romans and Greeks, ancient and modern nations, 
have here piled ruins upon ruins, and structure has perished 
upon the top of structure, and now lie buried beneath each 
other. 

Among the more modern ruins, we w^ere deeply interested in 
the remains of a huge old church, but a little distance from 
where our tents stood. Sufficient portions of the walls were 
standing to indicate its former size, while from the remains of 
one of its massive towers we could look down upon the numer- 
ous wretched cabins that the present inhabitants have con- 
structed within it. This church was built of stone, and was 
two hundred and sixteen feet long and one hundred and thirty- 
six feet broad. It is supposed to have been erected by Pauli- 
nus. Bishop of Tyre, in the beginning of the fourth century, 
and for it Eusebius, the historian, wrote a consecration sermon, 
still to be found in his Ecclesiastical History. He describes 



334 



THE HOLY LAND. 



this church as the most splendid of all the temples of Phoeni- 
cia. It added much to the interest with which we lingered 
about these old moss-grown walls and towers, when told they 
had often echoed to the eloquence of old Origen, and that be- 
neath these ruins his dust now molders, for here he was 
entombed. 

TYRE, PAST AND PRESENT. 

Seated upon the ruins of this old church, we may look about 
us, and contemplate the past and present. What a place for 
reflection ! This city, upon the ruins of which we now gaze, 
fills a large place in the early history of civilization. Tyre was 
once the proud mistress of the Mediterranean. Here was 
erected the first throne of empire that swayed its sceptre over 
the sea. Poets sang of her greatness, and the prophets, under 
the power of inspiration, pictured in vivid imagery her great- 
ness and glory. Take your Bible and read some of the graphic 
descriptions from the pen of Ezekiel. Tyrus, thou that art 
situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the 
people for many isles. O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect 
beauty. Thy borders are in the midst of the sea, thy builders 
have perfected thy beauty. They have made all thy ship- 
boards of fir trees of Senir ; they have taken cedars from Leb- 
anon to make masts for thee. Of the oaks of Bashan they 
have made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have 
made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim. 
Fine linen, with broidered work from Egypt, was that which 
thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the 
isles of Elisha, was that which covered thee. The inhabitants 
of Sidon and Arvad were thy mariners; thy wise men, Ty- 
rus^ that were in thee were thy pilots." Ezk. xxvii. Thus, 
under the figure of a stately ship, this ancient mistress of the 
sea is described, while all lands and nations bring their contri- 
butions to increase her strength, excellency and power. The 
surrounding cities and nations are represented as her mer- 
chants, and all manner of products are laid at her feet. The 
ships of Tarshish sang of her in her markets, and she was re- 
plenished and made glorious in the midst of the seas. But the 



PEOPHECY FULFILLED. 



335 



prosperity of Tyre laid the foundation of her ruin. In her 
wealth she became proud, her riches corrupted her, and God 
was compelled to record sentence against her. ''Thus saith 
the Lord God: Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast 
said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the 
seas. By thy great wisdom, and by thy traffic, hast thou in- 
creased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy 
riches; therefore, thus saith the Lord God, because thou hast 
set thine heart as the heart of God, behold, therefore, I will 
bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations; and they 
shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and 
they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down 
to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain 
in the midst of the seas." " By the multitude of thy merchan- 
dise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou 
hast sinned ; therefore, I will cast thee as profane out of the 
mountain of God ; and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, 
from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted 
because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by rea- 
son of thy brightness; I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay 
thee before kings, that they may behold thee." Ezk. xxviii. 

Standing here and meditating among these ruins, mark the 
exact fulfillment of the sentence pronounced against this proud 
city, as recorded by the prophets, while yet she was in the 
zenith of her glory. " Wherefore, thus saith the Lord God : 
Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and I cause many nations 
to come up against thee, and they shall destroy the walls of 
Tyrus and break down her towers." The kings of Assyria, 
Babylon, and other nations of the East, have gathered their be- 
sieging hosts about the place, and terrible has been the work 
of destruction wrought. It was said by the prophet : They 
shall lay thy stones, and thy timber, and thy dust in the midst of the 
water'' When Alexander the Great besieged the city, the 
most terrible ruin was wrought. The city upon the main land 
was soon captured and totally destroyed. The stones, timber 
and rubbish were then conveyed by them to the sea, and 
formed into a causeway, stretching from the mainland to the 
island. Thus, in the fulfillment of the prophecy, by casting her 



336 



THE HOLY LAND. 



stones, timber and dust into the sea, they made for themselves au 
highTvay over which they carried the siege to the island city, 
and captured it by storm. ^^And they shall destroy the loalls of 
Tyrus and break dozen her toicers.'^ See how her walls are now 
leveled with the ground, and her towers have been utterly 
overthrown and demolished! '-And I icill scrape her dust from 
her and. make her like the top of a rock.'' Mark those ledges of 
rocks along the sea, once covered with soil and ornamented 
with costly palaces. Xow the sculptured columns lie pros- 
trate; the huge stones are scattered abroad; the soil has been 
washed away, and the driving storms send the sheeted foam 
dashing over their naked, barren tops! It shall he a place for 
the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea:' Did you see, as we 
passed along the shore, how the thoughtless fishermen had 
spread their nets to dry upon the desolate places, where once 
the proudest parts of the city stood? The reflecting traveler 
looks upon these things with amazement, and is astonished at 
the exact and literal fulfillment of these prophetic records. 
Tyre, the hand of the Almighty has been upon thee; judgment 
was recorded against thee, and faithfully has the sentence been 
executed. ^'The exaltation, the sin, and the punishment of 
Tyre,"' says one, ''have been recorded for us, in perhaps the 
most touching words ever uttered by the prophets of Israel 
against the cities of the stranger. But we read them as a love- 
ly song, and close our ears to the sternness of their warning; 
for the very depth of the fall of Tyre has blinded us to its re- 
ality, and we forget, as we watch the bleaching of the rocks 
between the sunshine and the sea, that they were once ' as in 
Eden, the garden of God.'" "' God's hand has been here, and 
he has written for us lessons of instruction, that cannot but ar- 
rest the attention of the most careless ; and the traveler, as he 
muses upon the spot, is admonished of the retributive justice 
that has spoiled and humbled this once proud, boasting city, 
^ell may we take- up the lamentation the prophet prepared be- 
forehand for us, and utter it as we stand in the midst of these 
ruins : " Thus saith the Lord God of Tyrus : Shall not the isles 
shake at the sound of thy fall? Then all the princes of the sea 
shaU come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, 



T B OF H I E A M . 



337 



and put off their broidered garments; they shall sit upon the 
ground, and shall tremble every moment, and shall be aston- 
ished at thee. And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, 
and say to thee : How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of 
sea-faring men, the renowned city, wdiieh wast strong in the 
sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on 
all that haunt it. Xow shah the isles tremble in the day of thy 
fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy 
departure. "VTheu I shall make thee a desolate city like the 
cities that are not inhabited.'"' Ezk. xxvi. 

T\^e did not take time to visit --The Tomb of Hiram,'' which 
may be seen upon a hill-side, six or seven miles east of the 
town. It is spoken of as one of the most singular monuments 
in the land — an immense sarcophagus of limestone, hewn out 
of a single block, twelve feet long, eight feet wide, and six feet 
high, and covered by a lid five feet in thickness, cut in pyra- 
midal lovm. Three layers of large hewn stones, the upper one 
projecting a few inches, form a massive pedestal, on which this 
gigantic coffin rests. A hole has been broken through one 
end, by means of which it can be entered. Here, tradition 
says. Hiram, King of Tyre, the friend and ally of Solomon, 
found a resting place. It stands solitary and alone, far from 
human habitation: and the tomb, like the city over which its 
renowned occupant reigned, bears the marks of neglect and 
decay. 

FROM TYRE TO SIDON. 

April -IQih. At 8 o'clock we had finished our rambles about 
the city. A large number of the lounging villagers gathered 
about to watch our preparations for departure, among them 
many of the Christian refugees, who had been driven from 
their homes by the recent bloody massacres of the Druses. 
Prom twelve to fifteen hundred of these were now quartered 
here, fed at government expense. We took our departure, and 
struck out across the plain of Phoenicia. A ride of a little 
more than two hours brought us to the Leontes, the third river 
in point of rank and size in Syria, the Jordan and the Orontes 
only being superior to it. It has its source near the ruins of 



338 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Baalbek, draining a portion of the Lebanon and Antilebanon 
mountains. This stream is abont one-third as large as the 
Jordan, and has a rapid current; over it a substantial stone 
bridge has been erected, a convenience seldom found in this 
neglected country. 

One hour's ride from this river, the traveler's attention is 
called to a number of upright stones arranged in the form of a 
circle. For what purpose these were erected no one can now 
tell, but the natives have a singular story connected with them. 
ITear by is a little whitewashed tomb dedicated to iTeby Sur, a 
celebrated prophet, but in what age he lived the tradition does 
not say. This was his residence, and some rude men passing 
by made sport of him. As a punishment for their ill manners, 
the prophet cursed them, as Elijah did the fruit on Mount Car- 
mel. The whole company of them were immediately turned 
into stone, like Lot's wife, standing like monumental pillars; 
and here they have stood from that time till this — mute preach- 
ers, teaching lessons of reverence and respect for the aged and 
the good. 

ELIJAH AND THE WIDOW OP SAREPTA. 

About noon we passed the ruins of an ancient town, the site 
of Zarephath, spoken of in the ITew Testament under its Greek 
name, Sarepta. " Many widows were in Israel in the days of 
Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six 
months, when great famine was throughout all the land; but 
unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta, a city 
of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow." Luke iv. 25, 26. 
Here then we were upon the very spot of one of the most strik- 
ing events in the wonderful history of Elijah the Tishbite. We 
have looked down into the deep, wild glen by the brook Cher- 
ith, where the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morn- 
ing, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank of the 
water of the brook. But the dearth grew more and more se- 
vere, and the brook dried up. Elijah, hunted by Ahab, who 
sought to put him to death, was under the immediate protec- 
tion of the God he served. The Spirit led him to this place, 
then a city of considerable note. As he approached the gate a 



THE WIDOW OF SAKEPTA. 



339 



"poor widow woman" was gathering a few sticks to prepare 
herself a meaL The dearth was over all the country, and al- 
ready many a haggard look and sunken cheek told in unmis- 
takable language the horror of the famine that was consuming 
the land. "Fetch me," said Elijah, "I pray thee, a little water, 
that I may drink." Water she could spare, and she lacked not 
kindness of heart to accommodate. As she went "to fetch 
it" Elijah called after her: "Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel 
of bread in thine hand." "What a request to make of one al- 
ready dying of famine ! She had a kind and obliging heart, 
but how could she grant the request, even though the prophet, 
like herself, was perishing with hunger? " As Jehovah thy God 
liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, 
and a little oil in a cruse; and, behold, I am gathering two 
sticks that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we 
may eat it and dieJ^ Kind-hearted as she was, who could expect 
her to share her last morsel with a stranger? But the prophet 
had been more deeply instructed in the plans and purposes of 
Jehovah than this famishing woman. "Fear not, go and do as 
thou, hast said; but make me therof a little cake first, and 
bring it unto me, and after make for thee and thy son. For 
thus saith the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not 
waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day the Lord 
sendeth rain upon Israel." 1 Kings xvii. What did that Gen- 
tile woman know of the God of Israel? Yet she ventured 
upon the promise, and what a reward followed her faith and 
liberality! The promise was fulfilled, and through the long, 
weary days of that terrible famine, her meal and oil failed not ; 
the prophet, herself and son all lived upon it, and constantly 
as they drew from their scanty stock, by some strange, miracu- 
lous power, it was replenished again. May we not learn from 
it the rewards both of faith and liberality ? The self-sacrificing 
man lives not on what he keeps, but on what he gives. The very 
comforts he has given up, by some mysterious influence, seem 
fledged with angel wings, and come gathering around him like 
messengers of plenty and joy. We looked earnestly about, al- 
most fancying we could identify the spot where these strange 
things transpired ; but the houses had been tumbled into ruins. 



340 



THE HOLY LAND. 



and a few fragments of marble and scattered heaps of stone 
are all tliat remain. We dismounted and picked from an old 
wall a bit of white marble, as the only memento of the place 
we could find to bear away with us ; but we left with the story 
of the widow's faith, and the power of Elijah's God, more deep- 
ly than ever imprinted upon the mind. 

The Plain of Phoenicia, over which we are now riding, ex- 
tends from south of Tyre to several miles beyond Sidon. Its 
total length is about thirty miles, its average breadth not more 
than one mile. !N'ear Tyre and Sidon the mountains are shoved 
back farther from the sea, giving a breadth of about two miles 
to the plain. This plain has a rich, undulating soil, and is 
every where well watered. iTature has done much to make it 
productive and delightful, man has done more to make it un- 
fruitful and desolate. Its villages have been destroyed, its in- 
habitants driven back among the mountains, life and property 
made insecure. Large portions of its fertile soil lie waste and 
uncultivated, while the wild Bedawin pitches his tent here and 
pastures his flocks, or goes roaming over it at will. 

SIDON, OR SAIDA. 

The approach to Sidon was one of the most pleasant rides 
we had enjoyed in all this land. The city can be seen from 
twelve to fifteen miles. In some places the remains of the old 
Roman road are visible, while fragments of broken columns 
and great hewn stones are scattered along the way. Occasion- 
ly you pass the flowery banks of some winding stream fringed 
with the oleander, and decked with bright and beautiful flow- 
ers. Strange as it may seem, we passed several of the old mile- 
stones that have stood here by the road-side since the days of the 
Roman occupation. One of them, marred and scarred by time, 
still bears in legible letters the name of Septimius Severus, and 
his son Aurelius Antoninus. It is supposed to date back as 
early as A. D. 198. 

As we approached the city, it seemed to be embowered in 
beautiful groves, orchards and gardens. For more than an 
hour, we were riding directly upon the smooth sandy beach of 
the sea, the white-crested waves breaking over our horses' feet. 



THE CITY OF SIDON. 



343 



The houses of the city appeared to be better built than in any 
city we had yet visited. Many of them were stuccoed and 
whitewashed, giving them a very neat and tasty appearance. 
The distances of our day's ride, measured by the hour, are about 
as follows : From Tyre to the river Leontes, one hour and forty- 
five minutes; Leontes to Sarepta, three hours; Sarepta to Sidon, 
three hours and fifteen minutes ; thus making a total from Tyre 
to Sidon of about eight hours, or from twenty-five to thirty 
miles. We arrived in good time, and soon had our tents ar- 
ranged in the midst of a beautiful grove just without the walls 
of the city. 

Sidon was the mother of Tyre, and for a long time they 
shared the honors of the mistress of the sea. It is the oldest 
city of Phoenicia, and one of the oldest in the world. Jose- 
phus says it was founded by Sidon, eldest son of Canaan, and 
great grandson of JSToah. It has a history cotemporary with 
Gaza, Sodom and Gomorrah. When the Israelites conquered 
Canaan it was a great and powerful city. Homer mentions it 
in connection with the Trojan war. Like its daughter Tyre, it 
was for a long series of years a powerful and opulent commer- 
cial city. It is now but the remnant of what it once was ; its 
harbors have gone to ruin, its commerce has perished, and 
scarce a vessel makes even a passing call. The population is 
probably about ten thousand, full half of whom are Moham- 
medans ; the other half mostly Jews, Greek, Catholic, and Mar- 
onite Christians. Silk is extensively manufactured here, and 
large quantities of fruit are cultivated. The plain about the 
city is covered with gardens and orchards of oranges, lemons, 
figs, pomegranates, bananas, apricots and kindred fruits. 

This city fell to the lot of Asher, but, like Tyre, it was too 
powerful for the Israelites, and they were never able to subdue 
it. It is but little known in New Testament history, and it is 
but once mentioned of the Savior that he visited the coasts of 
Tyre and Sidon. Like Tyre, it was the subject of prophetic 
prediction, and like that city, shared in the retributions that 
follow pride, luxury and arrogance. " Son of man, set thy face 
against Sidon and prophecy against it, and say : Thus saith 
the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Sidon; and I 



344 



THE HOLY LAND. 



will be glorified in tlie midst of thee, and they shall know that 
I am the Lord when I shall have executed judgments in her." 
Ezk. xxviii. 24. The prophecies have been fulfilled. The 
changes of time have destroyed her commerce, invading armies 
blocked up her ports, battered down her walls, and destroyed 
her palaces. She who was once great, is now as a cleft in the 
rock;" dismantled and solitary, she sits in loneliness and deso- 
lation, her beauty and glory faded forever. 

The buried ruins about Sidon will yet prove a rich mine to 
the antiquarian. In a neighboring hill-side are many tombs, 
some of which have been explored. A beautifully wrought 
sarcophagus was found here only a few years ago, containing 
a perfect Phoenician inscription of twenty-two lines. The lines 
told the story of its occupant, revealing the fact that he was 
once a king of Sidon ! This ancient sarcophagus is now pre- 
served in the museum of the Louvre at Paris. A short time 
previous to the discovery of this, in another place, a large 
quantity of gold coins, of the reign of Alexander the Great, 
and of Philip of Macedon, were discovered. But Sidon, Thomp- 
son thinks, is too old to furnish many valuable antiquities. Her 
decline, he says, commenced "before antiquity began." 

SIDON TO BEIRUT. 

April 27th. We left Sidon this morning in good spirits, for 
to-day our tent life in Syria terminates ; to-night we expect to 
sleep in a hotel in Beirut, nine hours distant. The road, as one 
says, is bleak, bad and uninteresting — now plunging through 
barren, drifting sand, and now winding over low promontories, 
covered with multitudes of loose stones and sharp rocks. "We 
now bade farewell to the Plain of Phoenicia, and the southern- 
most range of the Lebanon mountains came down upon the 
sea. The sight of these mountains awakened remembrance of 
Solomon and the cedars. Lebanon signifies ivhite, and the dis- 
tant tops of these mountains, covered with perpetual snow, lie 
glistening in the sunlight. It was these sublime and towering 
hights, the extensive groves of enormous cedars upon their 
sides, the olive plantations and vineyards, the running streams 
and fruitful vales of their base, that made up the "glory of 



CEDAES OF LEBANON. 



345 



Lebanon" alluded to in the word of God. These renowned 
cedar groves, from which Hiram sent to Solomon timber for his 
temple, have mostly disappeared; but one solitary grove of 
them now remains. These are usually visited from Beirut, but 
the snows upon the mountains when we were there prevented 
approach to them. This grove of cedars lies six thousand feet 
above the level of the sea, and twenty-four hundred feet below 
the summit of the mountains. The grove covers about three 
acres; some of the trees are of enormous size; one is said to be 
forty feet in circumference. They are the patriarchs of ancient 
days, and have witnessed the changes of many hundreds of 
years. 

LADY stanhope's HOME. 

As we passed on, a few miles to the right of us, among these 
mountain ranges, may still be seen the ruins of the home of 
Lady Hester Stanhope. I remember the interest with which I 
read Lamartine's narrative of his visit here in 1832. It was, 
certainly, a strange freak of humor that led this lady of intel- 
lect, rank, wealth and beauty to banish herself from her native 
land, and choose a home amid these solitudes of Lebanon! 
There was a charm of romance about it, and for a time, the 
novelty of the situation and mode of life might have had many 
attractions. But when I read Thompson's account of her 
death and burial, the gilding all seemed to fall from the pic- 
ture, and the loneliness and desolation of the scene were truly 
gloomy and distressing. She, who had shone in the highest 
circles of English society, who had rejected the proffered crown 
of Palmyra, outlived her beauty, w^ealth and power. The fol- 
lowing account of the funeral is from Thompson's "Land and 
Book:" 

" The British consul at Beirut requested me to perform the 
religious services at the funeral of Lady Hester. It was an in- 
tensely hot Sabbath in June, 1839. We started on our melan- 
choly errand at 1 o'clock, and reached this place about mid- 
night. After a brief examination, the consul decided that the 
funeral must take place immediately. This vault in the gar- 
den was hastily opened, and the bones of General L , or of 



346 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Ills SOB, I forget which — a Frenchman who died here, and was 
baried in the vault by her ladyship — were taken out and placed 
at the head. 

" The body, in a plain deal box, was carried by her servants 
to the grave, followed by a mixed company, with torches and 
lanterns, to enable them to thread their way through the wind- 
ing alleys of the garden. I took a wrong path, and wandered 
some time in the mazes of these labyrinths. When at length 
I entered the arbor, the first thing I saw were the bones of the 
general, in a ghastly heap, with the head on top, having a 
lighted taper stuck in either eye-socket — a hideous, grinning 
spectacle. It was difficult to proceed with the service under 
circumstances so novel and bewildering. The consul subse- 
quently remarked that there were some curious coincidences 
between this and the burial of Sir John Moore, her ladyship's 
early love. In silence, on the lone mountain at midnight, ' our 
kn terns dimly burning,' with the flag of her country over her, 
' she lay like a warrior taking his rest,' and we left her ' alone 
in her glory.' " 

The place is now described as a sad scene of desolation. Her 
house has been torn down and the materials sold to the sur- 
rounding people, while the stones of her tomb have been 
broken in and displaced. 

TOMB OF JONAH. 

A ride of about three hours from Sidon brought us to a place 
called Keby Yunas, or Prophet Jonah. The place is situated 
directly upon the sea-shore, in a little sandy bay near a thick 
mulberry grove. There is here a large old khan, mostly in 
ruins, but one or two of the rooms are now occupied by 
the Turks as a kind of coffee restaurant. A little distance 
from it is a large whitewashed monument or tomb, built in 
Moslem style, called the Tomb of Jonah. It has the usual dome- 
top of the Moslem graves, and several rooms attached for the 
accommodation of the keeper, and such pilgrims as choose to 
visit it. This, the inhabitants here will tell you, is the veritable 
place where Jonah was thrown up by the whale in his strange 
sea voyage, when he attempted to run away from the command 



TUEKISH COFFEE. 



347 



of his Lord! The supposed place of his embarkation was 
Joppa, and many believe that Tarsus, the birth-place of Saul, 
was the Tarshish to which he was attempting to flee. If so, 
this place was certainly upon his route, and the whale would 
be as likely to cast him up here as at any other place. But 
whether Jonah was ever here or not, this monument is conse- 
crated to his memory, and is quite a place of resort for Moslem 
pilgrims, who come here to perform their religious vows. 

If you would like a cup of Turkish coffee, you can be ac- 
commodated at the khan close by, while our horses are taking 
a little rest. I could never tolerate the black coffee of the 
Turks. It is served out in very small cups, so thick, black and 
strong that one of these small cups contains as much strength 
as two or three of our large cups. It is taken without milk, 
but with as much sugar as it will dissolve. There seems to 
have been no change in the mode of making or taking it since 
Lord Bacon wrote his quaint description of it, more than two 
hundred years ago : " They have in Turkey a drink called coffee, 
made of a berry of the same name, as black as soot, and of a 
strong sent [scent], but not aromatical, which the}^ take, beaten 
into powder, in loater as hot as they can drink it. And they 
take it and sit at it in their coffee-houses, which are like our 
taverns. This Drink comforteth the Brain and Heart and help- 
eth digestion.^^ 

. Proceeding onward from the Tomb of Jonah, we passed a 
high point of land or promontory where the mountain range 
projects into the sea. We clambered over rocks, and along 
precipitous paths, where it was sometimes extremely difficult 
for our horses to make their way. This rough and narrow pass 
has been the theatre of bloody conflicts. Here, about 218 B. 
C, the Egyptians under Ptolemy made a stand and arranged 
their forces for the defense of the pass. Antiochus the Great 
advanced from Beirut, attacked the enemy on both flanks, and 
drove them back with great slaughter to Sidou. 

We now passed a fertile portion of the country; villages dot 
the mountain-side, and numerous groves of mulberry and olive 
adorn the landscape. As we looked off upon the distant hills, 
we remembered how, only a few months ago, many of these 



348 



THE HOLY LAND. 



villages were deluged with blood in the cruel, cold-blooded 
murder of their Christian population by the Druses. Many 
towns were destroyed, thousands of Christians killed, and mul- 
titudes of others forced to flee for their lives. The American 
consul at Beirut informed me that his wife, as she looked out 
upon the mountain ranges, counted twenty villages burning at 
one time, while the terrified inhabitants were fleeing in every 
direction. Many thousands of these Christians, thus rendered 
homeless, and reduced to great extremities, are even now fed 
at the expense of the government, or by donations from Europe 
and America. 

Khan Khulda, about three hours before reaching Beirut, is 
noted for a number of old sarcophagi lying neglected upon the 
hill-side. They bear no inscriptions of any kind, but are sup- 
posed to be of Phoenician origin. They are from five to seven 
feet long, cut from limestone rocks, each now having its lid re- 
moved and thrown to one side. They are now all empty. 
Who have been their occupants none can tell. 'Not a bone or 
vestige of their tenants remain ; no voice comes up from their 
rifled chambers to inform us when they were hewn, or who 
found a resting place within their now solitary chambers. 

At last a long blue line of water indicated that we were ap- 
proaching the sea. As we neared the city, we passed for a 
long distance over a yellow, sandy soil, almost entirely destitute 
of vegetation, where the loose sands are driven by the winds, 
and piled in heaps like snow. The scenery was varied and 
beautiful ; the distant mountains rising up in bold and solemn 
grandeur, dotted with villages, forming one of its most promi- 
nent features. Now we passed a large pine grove; then we 
were passing through groves of olive, mulberry, and gardens 
hedged by rows of enormous cactus, or prickly pear. This is 
planted upon low stone walls, and grows with gigantic 
strength to the hight of fifteen or twenty feet. The trunks are 
sometimes two and a half feet in circumference, with great 
thick leaves twenty inches long, covered with hard, sharp 
thorns. And now from the tall hights back of the town we 
looked down upon the city, stretching down the hill-side to- 
wards the sea, and deeply embowered in groves of mulberry 



BEIEUT. 349 

and fruit trees. We wound down the declivity, along shaded 
roads and among substantial European-looking houses, to the 
sea-shore, and stopped at a public house in the outskirts of the 
town, called "Hotel de Belle Yue." There is another directly 
in the business part of the town called by the same name. The 
charges at these hotels are about two dollars a day. Our jour- 
ney in Syria was ended, and it was with grateful hearts we 
bade adieu to tents, dragoman and muleteers, and took lodg- 
ings in a hotel, from whence we expect to take a steamer on 
our homeward passage. 

Beirut probably contains at least fifty thousand inhabitants, 
of whom about one-third are Mohammedans. There are usu- 
ally many strangers in the city, drawn here for commerce and 
travel. Many Europeans are settled here, and many European 
houses adorn the town, and European costumes meet the eye. 
A large body of French soldiers are now stationed here, the 
avowed object being the protection of the Christians of the 
surrounding country from the hostility of the Druses. It is a 
place of considerable commerce, and large quantities of raw 
silk are among its exports. The city stands upon a kind of 
promontory, and is most beautifully situated. The old portion 
of it is densely built, close upon the sea-shore, the streets nar- 
row, crooked, and badly paved. The houses are mostly of 
stone, substantially built, and have a neat and comfortable ap- 
pearance. There are many beautiful villas in the suburbs, em- 
bowered in groves of mulberry; in fact, the whole country 
about, as one says, is rapidly "becoming one vast mulberry 
plantation." As you ascend to the upper parts of the town the 
view becomes magnificent, embracing the Bay of St. George, 
the distant expanse of the blue open sea stretching away in the 
distance till it blends with the horizon ; the bights of Lebanon, 
rising tier above tier, until, in the far distance, their heads are 
pinnacled in the clouds, and their "snowy scalps" ghsten in 
the sunlight. I have seldom looked upon a more extensive, 
sublime and enchanting landscape than meets the view from 
the bights of the town back of Beirut. 

Sunday^ April 2Sth. With joy we hailed the light of the re- 
turning Sabbath, for we anticipate a pleasant season of Chris- 



350 



THE HOLT LAND. 



tian worship with the American missionaries stationed here. 
We had been provided with letters of introduction both to 
them and Mr. Johnson, the American consul. We were cor- 
dially received by them, and would here express our thanks 
for favors received, and especially to the consul for his assist- 
ance in the business matters we had to attend to in the city. 
Half-past 10 o'clock found us at the mission chapel, to 
unite with the missionaries in their accustomed worship. We 
made the acquaintance of several of their number, among them 
Mr. W. M. Thompson, author of " The Land and the Book," 
who, for more than twenty years, has lived and labored in these 
Bible lands, and become familiar with every portion of the 
country. The mission premises occupy a beautiful situation, 
and the chapel is large, airy and pleasant. One of our travel- 
ing companions was invited to preach, and it was a delightful 
privilege to sit down once more in the house of God, and bear 
a part in the devout services. Quite a large printing establish- 
ment is connected with the mission, which we visited the next 
day. The schools of these missionaries here have done much 
in cultivating a taste for literature, as well as a love for reli- 
gion ; indeed, the mission has been a prosperous one, and has 
exerted an extensive influence on the surrounding country, and 
many out-stations have been formed among the villages of the 
mountains. 

Just before leaving home I received a communication from a 
lady acquaintance: "I have a dear brother buried at Beirut; 
the missionaries can tell you whej;e. I want you to find the 
place, stand by the side of the grave, and, if possible, bring me 
a flower, or a leaf, or even a spire of grass from the tomb, that 
I may preserve it as a memento of one I so dearly loved." It 
was a reasonable request, and I was sure it was prompted by 
the earnest alfection of a bereft sister's heart. After service I 
asked Dr. Van Dyck to accompany me to the grave. He led 
me to a secluded portion of the mission premises, to a pleasant 
and attractive spot, secured by a strong cactus hedge and deep- 
ly shaded by the overhanging trees. Here several members of 
the mission and converts to the Christian faith had found a 
quiet resting place. I stood by one of the monuments, and 



CONCLUSION. 



351^ 



read upon the sculptured marble the name of George B. 
Whiting, long a devoted and successful missionary of the cross, 
both at Jerusalem and in this city. I thought of the fond 
affection of the bereft sister, who would covet a spire of grass 
from the hallowed spot, and gathering a few flowers, laid them, 
in my memorandum book in compliance Avith her tender 
request. 

The Sabbath was over, and we immediately set about mak- 
ing arrangements for our departure homewards. We found in 
the port an American vessel, loading with wool, which was to 
sail direct for Boston. We packed a box with the various ar- 
ticles of interest and curiosity we had gathered in our journey, 
and shipped them for our native land. We then engaged a 
passage on the French steamer Samois for Smyrna; second 
cabin passage, thirty-two dollars — first cabin, about sixty dol- 
lars — time, six days — stopping at Tripolis, Ladikiyeh, (Laodicea) 
Rhodes, and other ports. The journey homeward, after reach- 
ing Smyrna, where we visited the Tomb of Polycarp, was to 
Athens, thence to Rome, through southern Italy ; ove^ the Ap- 
penines to northern Italy ; over the Alps, by the St. Gothard 
pass; through Germany, and down the Rhine to Cologne; 
thence to Brussels, Paris, London, Edinburgh, the Highlands, . 
Glasgow, Liverpool, Boston, and again to the great Yalley of 
the "West. 

It was the design of the writer, when this volume was com- 
menced, to include in it an account of the most interesting in- 
cidents of this European tour, but the book has already been 
protracted beyond the intended limits, and here at Beirut I must 
give the reader the parting hand. We have had a long and in- 
teresting journey — I trust not an unprofitable one. We have 
traveled over the ground that has witnessed the events of the 
world's early history; stood on the hoary ruins of palaces and 
temples, and looked, as it were, into God's treasure-house of 
knowledge. We have seen Egypt, wandered in that "great 
and terrible desert," climbed the sublime and venerated bights 
of Sinai and Horeb. We have made the tour of " The Holy 
Land" — the land of God's revelations, mysteries and miracles — 
where angels have found pathways, and have descended and 



352 



THE HOLY LAND. 



ascended on missions of mercy and judgment. We have lin- 
gered about the " Holy City/' and walked in the paths conse- 
crated by the feet of the glorious Son of God. We have 
marked the changes time and the judgments of Heaven have 
wrought — how prophetic declarations have been fulfilled — have 
read upon a thousand tablets the Handwriting of G-od ! 

Our time together has passed pleasantly; we part, I trust, 
mutual friends. We are still travelers and sojourners; God 
grant we may meet again — not on mountains like these earthly 
ones, lying in the dim shadows of glory departed, but on the 
radiant Mount of God — not to traverse the highways of the 
earthly Canaau, but to roam those blissful lands of which this 
earthly Canaan was but the type — not in J erusalem on earth, 
but in the glorious city of peace and rest, eternal in the heav- 
ens. In hope of the joys of that ''better land," we say, 



FAEEWELL. 



INDEX. 



THE HOLY LAND. 



PAGE. 

Abner and Joab , 179 

Abraham's Altar , 275 

Oak 204 

Absalom, tomb of. 93 

Aceldama, field of blood 71 

Acquaintance, an interesting 155 

Acquaintances in traveling 16 

Alexandria to Jaffa 11 

Sunday-school in 10 

Aqueduct, ancient 125 

Arab horsemanship 229 

Hostility 271 

Baptism of Jesus 238 

Pilgrims 239 

Beirut , 349 

Beit Dejan 25 

Bethel, site of ancient 265 

Beth Dagon 25 

Bethesda, pool of 125 

Bethsaida 314 

Bethany, excursion to 138 

Bethlehem, excursion to 186 

A view of. 187 

The House of Bread.... 189 

View of convent 192 

A morning in 215 

Bible, Samaritan 156 

Bridge, ruins of. 62 

Caiphas, palace of. 66 

Capernaum 314 

Carmel and Elijah 323 

Promontory of. 326 

Convent of. 327 

Visit to 328 

Castle of David 46 

Cave of Machpelah 209 

Cedars of Lebanon 345 

Chapel of the Cross 114 

Helena 116 

The Virgin 127 

Cherith, brook of 221 

Chorazin 314 

Doom of. 317 

Church of the 5oly Sepulchre 110, 111 
Interior of 112 



PAGE. 

Church of the Nativity 190 

An old Christian 333 

City of Acre 329 

Cock that crew = 67 

Coenaculum 63 

Conclusion 351 

Convent of Nativity, view of. 192 

Visit to the Superior 259 

Corruption, Mount of 73 

Crucifixion, place of 109, 118 

Custom-houses 15 

David's V^ell 196 

David, Castle of. , 46 

Sepulchre of. 64 

Dead Sea, ride to 241 

Its peculiarities 242 

When and how formed. 243 

Bath in 247 

Keturn from 252 

Directions for traveling 13 

Discovery of an aqueduct 125 

Distances in Jerusalem 146 

Easter morning 153 

Ebal and Gerizim 278- 

Egypt, departure from 9 

Farewell to 12 

El- Jib or Gibeon 178 

Elijah and the Widow of Sarepta... 338 

Kavens 218 

Elisha at the Jordan 237 

Elijah's sacrifice 322 

Prayer. 327 

Eschol, Valley of 203 

Excursion to Bethany 138 

About Jerusalem.... 17 5, 180 
To Bethlehem and He- 
bron 186, 201 

To Jordan and the Dead 
Sea 216 

East of Eamedan 106 

Eield of Blood 71 

Flocks and their Shepherd 105 

Fountain of Hezekiah 59 

The Virgin 78, 81 



354 



INDEX. 



Fulfillment of Prophecy 60, 76 

Galilee, Sea of. 309 

Sunday at 312 

Garden of Gethsemane 129 

The inclosed 130 

Solomon 213 

Gerizim, view of 278 

Ascent to 279 

To Nazareth 291 

Gibeon, visit to .179 

Gibeah of Saul 185 

Gideon's Victory 300 

Gihon, Pool of 58 

Gilboa, Mountains of 296 

Gilgal of Joshua 230 

Events at 231 

Good Friday in Jerusalem 145 

Evening 152 

Grapes of Eschol 203 

Grotto of Jeremiah 96 

The Agony 129 

Hebron, excursion to 186, 201 

Cut of 206 

History of. 207 

Hezekiah, Fountain of. 59 

Hight of Mountains, Jerusalem 86 

Hill of Evil Council 69 

Hinnom, Valley of. 68 

Holy City, journey to 27 

Sepulchre 120, 121 

Hostility of Arabs 271 

House of Simon, the Tanner 20 

Bread 189 

Israel at the Promised Land,.. 234 

Jacob's Well 283 

Jaffa, landing at 18 

Gate 57 

Jeba, the Geba of Benjamin 182 

Jehoshaphat, Valley of. 88 

Jeremiah, Grotto of 96 

Jerichoes 222 

Jericho of Joshua 223 

Ee-built.... 223 

Of the New Testament 225 

Encampment at 228 

Jerusalem, departure for 22 

. View of 32 

Our home in 34 

Glance at the city 35 

As a battle-field 36 

Its decline 38 

The great captivity 39 

The Grecian invasion... 39 
The Eoman occupation. 40 
Massacre under Titus.... 41 

Ke-built 42 

Mohammedan conquest. 43 
"Walks about the city.... 44 
Plan of. 48 



PAGE. 

Jerusalem, Christian quarters at 49 

Jewish quarters at 51 

Mohammedan quarters 

at 52 

Kambles in 56, 89 

Excavations beneath 101 

Sabbath in 108 

From the Mt. of Olives,. 142 

Good Friday in 145 

Foot excursions 175, 180 

Arrangements to leave.. 257 

Last morning in 259 

Leaving 261 

Farewell to 263 

Jesus, baptism of 238 

Jews' place of wailing 148, 150 

Jezebel, death of. 299 

Jezreel, ruins of. 298 

Joab, Well of 72 

And Abner 179 

Jonathan and his armor-bearer 183 

Joppa, its history 20 

Jordan and the Dead Sea 216 

Visit to 231 

Plain of 233 

Bath in 233 

Ford of 235 

Elijah and Elisha at 237 

Joshua, Gilgal of. 230 

Joseph's Tomb 285 

House of 303 

Kidron, waters of. 90 

Kirjath-Jearim 29 

Lady Stanhope's home 345 

Legends 113 

Lepers, huts of 61 

Of Shechem 288 

Literary Institution, the first 224 

Lodging in Tombs 193 

Lydda, or Ludd 24 

Machpelah, Cave of. 209 

Manuscript, an old 286 

Mizpeh, the ancient 176 

Mohammedan conquest 43 

Mosque of Omar 164, 165 

Mountains, hight of. 86 

Mount Carmel 321 

Of Corruption 73 

Moriah..... 159 

Tabor 305 

Nabulous, or old Shechem 274 

Nativity, Convent and Church of... 190 
Grotto of. 193 

Nazareth, City of 302 

And Carmel 320 

To Beirut 321 

Nob, and Massacre of the Priests... 263 

Olive Trees, view of. 289 



INDEX. 



355 



PAGE. 

Olivet, ascent of. 134 

Omar, Mosque of. 164, 165 

Palace of Caiphas 66 

Palestine, Map of 8 

Palm Sunday 108 

Passports , 15 

Passover, a Jewish 143 

Pentateuch, Samaritan 156, 286 

Pilgrims, Baptism of. .f 239 

Pillar of Salt 245 

Place of blessing and cursing 282 

The Crucifixion 109, 118 

Wailing , 148, 150 

Pollution 75 

PoolofGihon , 58 

Siloam 77 

Bethesda 125 

Pools of Solomon 198, 201 

Phophecy, Fulfillment of..... 60, 76, 335 
Prophets, Tombs of. 94 

Kachel, Tomb of. 188 

Eamah of Benjamin 184 

Kamedan, Fast of. 106 

Kamleh 23, 26 

Kephaim, Plain of. 187 

Keservo.irs and Wells 171 

Bobber's Glen 28 

Fountain..... 269 

Euins of a Bridge 62 

Sakhrah, Sacred Eock 166 

Samaria, the ancient city 292 

Samaritans 276 

Samaritan Bible 156, 286 

Story of Manu- 
script 156 

Age of.. 158 

.Samuel, home of. 175 

Saul, Gibeah of 185 

Death of. 297 

Sepulchre of David 64 

Christ 120, 121 

Sepulchres and Tombs 70 

Sharon, Plain of. 23 

Eoseof 24 

Shechem, Lepers in 288 

Shepherd and his flock , 105 

Shiloh, visit to 270 

Tabernacle at 272 

Incidents at 273 

Sidon or Saida 340 

Cut of. 342 

City of. 343 

To Beirut 344 

Siloam, Pool of. 77 

Simon the Tanner , 20 

Sodom, apples of. 255 



PAGE. 

Sodom, Sea of. 251 

Solomon's gardens 213 

Pools 198, 201 

Sorrowful Way 146 

Sunday-school, Alexandria 10 

Sparrows 55 

Stephen, place where stoned 127 

Street in Jerusalem 131 

Superstitions 113 

Superior of Franciscan convent 259 

Supposed robber 256 

Temple Area, lights in 170 

And Sacred Eock 161 

Of Mount Moriah 159 

The Ccenaculum 63 

Tiberias, City of. 308 

Old 311 

Titus, Massacre under 41 

Tomb of Absalom 93 

Hiram 337 

Jonah 346 

Joseph 285 

Jehoshaphat 92 

Eachel 188 

St. James 92 

The Virgin Mary 127 

Zechariah 92 

Tombs and Sepulchres 70 

Of the Prophets 94 

Of Kings 98 

Visits to < 97 

Lodging in 193 

Tophet 74 

Traveling, directions for 13 

Turkish Coffee 347 

Tyre, approach to..., 331 

City of 332 

Ladder of. 331 

Past and present 334 

To Sidon 337 

Valley of Eschol 203 

Hinnom 68 

Jehoshaphat 88 

Via Dolorosa 146 

Virgin, Fountain of 78, 81 

Tomb and chapel of..... 127 

Waters of Kidron. 90 

Well of Joab 72 

David 196 

Jacob 283 

The Magi 187 

Wells and Eeservoirs 171 

Worship, a season of.., 313 

Zion, first sight of. 30 



^eh 1863 



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